Opinions vary so widely that two leading Democrats in Colorado have been out in public with very different messages since the mass murder.

Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D - Colorado) called for a renewal of the federal assault weapons ban.

Gov. John Hickenlooper (D - Colorado) has stated that he doesn't believe more gun laws would have prevented this tragedy.

Since much of gun control centers around state law, 9NEWS wanted to provide some perspective on how stringent Colorado's laws are when it comes to guns.

Colorado could be described as a moderate state on gun policy, somewhere in the middle of the pack of states.

We compared Colorado to two other states to demonstrate this: California and Wyoming.

Wyoming has some of the nation's most permissive gun laws and Colorado shares some of its policies.

Neither state requires a waiting period to buy a gun or any kind of permit to make the purchase. Wyoming and Colorado do not place any special restrictions on assault weapons.

But Colorado also shares some gun policies with California, one of the most restrictive states when it comes to guns.

Both states require a permit to carry a concealed weapon, which Wyoming does not.

On some gun issues, Colorado's laws fall somewhere in between our two example states.

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For instance, California only allows people to openly carry a gun (in full view on a holster) if the weapon is unloaded. Open carrying is totally legal in public in Wyoming. Colorado law allows open carrying in public, but allows cities to place restrictions on some areas.

Another example can be found in background checks. Wyoming goes with the federal minimum, a federal background check when purchasing a gun from a licensed dealer, which means no background checks on some gun show sales and private party sales. California requires a federal and state background check on every gun buyer, and forces private party sales to go through a licensed dealer as a middleman. Colorado requires state and federal checks by dealers and during gun show sales, but not in private party sales.

9NEWS has also received many questions about the legality of purchasing ammunition on the internet.

A search of ammo sales websites reveals most won't ship to Massachusetts, the only state with a ban on internet ammo sales.

New York City and Chicago are also listed as no-go, and Illinois and New Jersey apparently require the website to collect some documentation from you before you can buy ammo online.

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