Gun Sales Spike By Almost Double After Batman Massacre

Steve Watson

Gun sales in Colorado and elsewhere in the country have spiked exponentially since Friday’s tragic mass shooting in Aurora.
The Denver Post reported today that 1,216 background checks were conducted in Colorado on Friday alone for people looking to purchase a gun. That equates to a 43 percent increase compared to the average number of checks for the previous two Fridays,



Friday through Sunday, Colorado approved a total of 2,887 background checks, again a 43% rise on the same period in the previous week.
“A lot of it is people saying, ‘I didn’t think I needed a gun, but now I do,’” Jake Meyers, a worker at the Parker gun store, told the Denver Post. “When it happens in your backyard, people start reassessing – ‘Hey, I go to the movies.’”
“It’s been insane,” Meyers added, referring to the amount of people seeking training for a concealed carry permit, a legal right in 49 of the 50 US states.
Elsewhere in the country, gun shop owners have seen a similar boom in sales.
In North Carolina, for example, a number of firearm retailers like Brandon Ginther are reporting an increase in sales.
“Stuff like this makes people start wondering about gun laws, especially with a election,” Ginther told local reporters for News 14. “You don’t know what is coming up, you just never know.”
It’s a trend that has been ongoing throughout the nation for some time now, with a potential second term for president Obama cited as a driving factor, along with increasing expectation of a break down in society following a national emergency such as a large natural disaster or pandemic virus outbreak.
A recent FBI report noted that violent crime was down by 4% nationwide in 2011, while gun sales are up 50%, leading some to point to a correlation.
While both he and Mitt Romney have commented that existing gun laws are sufficient enough to restrict those with criminal intentions from accessing firearms, gun enthusiasts fear that Obama will use a second term to follow through on a promise he made to gun control advocate Sarah Brady during a White House meeting last year. Namely that his administration was working “under the radar” to sneak attack the second amendment rights of American citizens.
Following record one day sales on Black Friday last December, gun stores celebrated all time high sales for the month of February.
Gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson’s shares also shot up 18 per cent in March, their highest level in two years, on the back of reports of a 60 per cent surge in backlog orders.
Interest in gun shows is also rampant, with record turnouts showing up to events nationwide. Concealed carry permits in the state have soared by as much as 270 per cent over the last year in some counties.
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Steve Watson is the London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.com, and Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham in England.