Despite horrific mass shootings, people in Connecticut and Colorado aren't running to the gun store in droves like the rest of the country: Numbers of background checks—one way the firearms industry measures its success—are soaring nationwide, but not so much in those two states. November and December saw almost twice as many background checks in 2012 compared to 2011 across the US. Figures jumped after President Obama's reelection, the Newtown shooting, and Obama's pledge to push for stronger gun laws, the AP notes. "It's a fear there will be a crackdown," says one gun store boss.
Georgia, for instance, saw background checks jump from 37,586 in October to 78,998 in December. But in Connecticut, background checks rose far more slowly, from 18,761 in October to 29,246 in December. The situation was similar in Colorado, where the figure climbed from 35,009 in October to 53,453 in November. Only New Jersey and Maryland saw a smaller increase from November to December than Colorado's. The FBI performed 1.5 million background checks nationwide in August, after the Aurora shooting, compared to 1.2 million the month before the shooting. The Connecticut attack, however, seemed to drive sales purchases even more: After 1.6 million background checks in October, the US saw 2.8 million in December. (More Colorado stories.)
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