'The Dark Knight Rises' Colorado Shootings Open Up Questions Over Us Gun Control That May Never Be Answered

Unsurprisingly one of the key issues that has come out from the shocking scenes of the Colorado shootings late on Thursday that saw 12 people killed and 50 injured in a Denver cinema has been America's laws on gun control. Also unsurprisingly, and somewhat depressingly so, has been leading figures of the US government reluctance to come out in public over the events. The incident occurred during a screening of much-hyped new Christopher Nolan film 'The Dark Knight Rises', and whilst groups like the NRA have come out saying that the atrocity is proof that more people should be allowed to possess fire arms in order to defend themselves, there've been few notable figures leaning publicly the other way.

So why is this? Reuters reports that, with elections coming, there are fears that coming out so strongly in favour of tightening up the laws would actually be detrimental to anyone's campaign. The National Rifle Association possesses a great deal of power in the US, according to political analyst CAL JILLSON, and took in $253 million from assorted supporters in 2010. Contrast this with major gun control group The Brady Centre to Prevent Gun Violence which took in only $5.9 million in the same period and it's clear evidence that public favour in the US is, if anything, swung towards the former.

Ultimately it seems that no real discussion will take place, some still believe that it was Al Gore's strong views on gun control that led to his presidential campaign failure back in 2000, and neither party in the US appears keen to risk the same damage by going public this time round. One of the few outspoken figures on the subject, New York Major Michael Bloomberg called on PRESIDENT OBAMA and opposition MITT ROMNEY to speak out, saying "Soothing words are nice, but maybe it's time that the two people who want to be president of the United States stand up and tell us what they are going to do about it. I don't think there's any other developed country in the world that has remotely the problem we have. We have more guns than people in this country." You fear his words may be falling on death ears.