An Associated Press analysis finds that background checks for gun sales and permits to carry guns surged at the end of 2012.
But people in Connecticut and Colorado, scenes of the deadliest U.S. mass shootings in 2012, were less enthusiastic about buying new guns than people in most other states. The biggest surges in occurred in the South and West.
The latest FBI figures reflect huge increases across the U.S. in the number of background checks following President Barack Obama's re-election, the school shooting in Connecticut and Obama's promise to support new laws aimed at curbing gun violence.
Nationally, there were nearly twice as many background checks for firearms between November and December than during the same time period in 2011.
