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DENVER& THE WESTSCHOOL DISTRICTDEFENDS DRILLINGAdams 12 has approvedmineralleases underneath amiddleschool and a high school. »2A

Obituary. Denver artist Jonathan“J.P.” Parker dies at age 87. »4A

NATION & WORLDANOTHER ATTACKON OBAMACARERepublican opponents of the lawmay be able to chip away at itrather than repeal it. »13A

SECOND-HALFCOLLAPSEWith “things goingwrong,” Broncos fail to scoreafter intermission and fall 34-27 to Steelers. » 1B

Source: Colorado Bureau of Investigation

* Through November

The Denver Post

2011Six people werekilled and U.S. Rep.Gabrielle Giffords ofArizona wasseverely injured bya gunman at agrocery in Tucson.Many more werewounded in theattack.

2012In Colorado, 12people died in theAurora theatershooting. Also, 20first-graders and sixadults were killed atSandy HookElementary Schoolin Newtown, Conn.

2013The Coloradolegislature passed ahandful of guncontrol laws thatincluded cappingmagazine-roundlimits at 15.

2014A gunman who alsoran victims downwith a car killed sixand wounded sevenin Isla Vista, Calif.

2015On Black Friday, agunman opened fireat a PlannedParenthood facilityin Colorado Springs,killing three peopleand wounding 12,nine by gunfire.

Colorado gunbackground checksBackground checks for gun purchases inColorado continue at a high pace, withnearly record-setting requests on BlackFriday this year of 4,115, just four belowlast year’s figure. Over the past five years,several mass shootings have taken place inthe state and nationwide, which is onefactor for the steady pace, experts say.

0

1

2

3

4

5

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

3,031

4,028 3,8044,119 4,115*

251,307

343,302

396,955

314,976297,657*

In thousands

In thousands

Black Friday background checks

Full-year background checks

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

ELECTION 2016

Secrets,silencein “darkmoney”Even as states try to stop it,unlimited, anonymousspending is expected to rise.

ByGeoff MulvihillThe Associated Press

cherry hill, n.j.» Just beforeRhode Island voters chose theirgovernor last year, a group inOhio transferred $730,000 fromsecret donors to another Ohio or-ganization that spent the moneyon television ads aimed at defeat-ingGinaRaimondo, theDemocratwho eventually won a tight race.More than a year later, it’s still

not clear where the money camefrom or why two Ohio-basedgroups would want to influencean election 600 miles away. Thesamegroups also funneled anony-mously donated cash for majorpolitical ad campaigns in Arkan-sas and Illinois.Rhode Island’s disclosure laws

are tougher than most, but thiswas a classic case of “darkmoney”keeping its secrets despite re-quirements that donors who payfor political ads reveal themselvesto the public.With the presidency at stake in

2016—aswell as a dozen governorraces, 34 U.S. Senate races, all 435seats in the U.S. House of Repre-sentatives, and scores of mayoralraces, state legislativeseatsandbal-lot initiatives— this kind of unlim-ited anonymous spending is ex-pected to grow, and handling it hasbecome the biggest campaign fi-nance challenge for states nation-

MONEY»6A

Guns in Colorado

State fully loadedFirearm sales keep rapid pace in 2015 amid heated debates

Bighorn Firearms owner Ryan Resch, left, helps Dave Clute with his first gun purchase, a .22-caliber Smith &Wesson semi-auto-matic pistol. More than 4,000 people attempted to purchase a gun on Black Friday this year in Colorado. Brent Lewis, The Denver Post

By Carlos Illescas The Denver Post

Amid a renewed national debate on guns,sales of the weapons continued at a rapidpace inColorado in 2015, even almostmatch-ing a record high on the very day a shooterkilled three and injured ninewith gunfire at aPlanned Parenthood facility in ColoradoSprings.The number of background checks for

guns throughNovember of this year reached297,657,with only about 1 percent of those be-ing denied, according to the latest numbersfrom the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.Last year, CBI conducted 314,976 back-

ground checks on gun purchasers.“It’s a crazy world. People want to protect

themselves,” said Ryan Resch, owner of Big-horn Firearms in southeast Denver.But advocates for gun control see a differ-

ent kindof insanity in the highnumber of gunsales, driven by pro-gun conservatives theyaccuse of spreading fear.“Of course it’s concerning,” said Tom Sulli-

van, who lost his son, Alex, in the Aurora the-ater shooting in 2012. “I’mconcernedabout thepeoplebuying into the fear that theapocalypseis coming, that the government is coming toget you. No one’s coming to get you.”No day is more popular for gun sales than

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Onthat day this year, a day marked by the vio-lence in Colorado Springs, there were 4,115background checks performed, comparedwith 4,119 in 2014, the CBI reported.

FIREARMS»12A

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