In late 2008, before President Barack Obama took office, gun rights advocates feared there might be a crackdown and turned out in droves to sweep up tens of thousands of firearms. As the Glenwood Springs Post Independent frames the story, 2009 gun sales in Colorado were "hotter than a two-dollar pistol." State-approved firearm background checks were up from nearly 197,000 in 2008 to more than 202,000 just last year, according to News8 in Grand Junction. The spike in sales continued despite a lack of federal anti-gun legislation. Instead, the only major gun debate has surrounded a statewide issue about whether Colorado State University should join most public colleges around the nation and ban concealed weapons. The topic will come up next week at a meeting of the Board of Governors on the Pueblo campus, with a ban potentially on the way, writes 7News. There's a backdrop: the shooting spree by a professor last week at the University of Alabama. The prof, who had been passed over for tenure, shot several faculty members, killing three professors (via The New York Times).