UPDATE: State Concealed Carry Applications Climb After Aurora Shooting

People across the nation have responded to the Aurora shooting on Friday by heading to their local gun shop, and Wisconsin residents seem to be following that trend.

Between Monday and Wednesday, Wisconsin Department of Justice Communications Officer Dana Brueck said the state has received 1,333 applications for conceal carry permits. That's compared to 1,366 applications received between Monday and Friday of last week, just before the shooting occurred.

The state's ; Brueck said, it has averaged about 300 applications a day " for some time." This week's pace is so far just under 450 permits applied for daily. 

The number of background checks reported for gun purchases skyrocketed in Colorado since Friday, with a 41 percent increase in applications, according to the Detroit Free Press. In Florida, requests for permits were up 10 percent, the article said; the FBI denied a request to release nationwide data. 

Victims' stories continue to surface after the Colorado theater shooting that took 12 lives and injured many more on Friday. Suspect James Holmes made his first appearance in court on Monday, with a look on his face that many described as "dazed," as reported on ABCnews.com. He remains in solitary confinement for his own protection, according to HuffingtonPost.com. Speculation has already arisen about the similarities between the shooting and parts of the new movie and tiny details have surfaced about who Holmes is.

• More than 200 comments have been left by Milwaukee-area Patch readers since Friday after word of the incident spread across the nation. 

Many have wondered whether more guns in the theater would have helped the situation, including Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert, who "questioned why nobody else in the theater had a gun to take down the shooter," according to an article on HuffingtonPost.com.

Though initial reports painted a picture of Holmes standing in front of the audience, shooting bullets from what a HuffingtonPost.com article described as a "military-style rifle capable of shooting 50 to 60 rounds per minute," a CBSnews.com report on Wednesday said that two witnesses claim he actually made some of his victims stand up — even picked them up when then did not comply, shouting at them, before shooting them.

• Read: James Holmes spent months purchasing his guns and ammo, on Huffingtonpost.com.

"It will be impossible to know exactly what happened, but the witnesses seem to describe a methodical shooter, who was arrested in the parking lot after the incident, presumably unharmed. Nothing about anyone trying to subdue the shooter," Patch user  wrote . "Read whatever you want into that — I see it as a sobering reminder of the difference between real violence and fantasies of violence, but some will certainly see it as evidence that there weren't enough guns in that movie theater."

Does this incident make you hesitate about going to the theaters? Does it change your opinion about conceal carry laws? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.