In reaction to the deadly shooting spree in Aurora, Colo., Americans are stockpiling their own arsenals. Sales are up across the land, from Georgia to California.

In Colorado, background checks were up by 25 percent this weekend and 43 percent the week before, according to The Associated Press.

Gun sales also spiked after the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others in January 2011.

Bizarre as it sounds, shooting sprees are clearly great advertisements for the arms industry. These massacres always raise the need for increased gun control, the threat of which may spur sales, but such legislation is unlikely to be passed by a Congress well intimidated by the gun lobby.

— Posted by Peter Z. Scheer.

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#aurora shooting#colorado#congress#gun control#guns