Fully 48% say they followed this news very closely, according to the latest survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. Another 25% say they followed news about the shootings – which left 12 dead and more than 50 injured – fairly closely.

The number following this tragedy very closely is comparable to the 49% that said they very closely followed news about the shootings in Tucson, Ariz. in January 2011 that left six dead and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords severely wounded. It also is similar to the 45% that very closely followed news about the mass killings at Virginia Tech in April 2007 that left 33 dead. A number of other recent mass shootings – including one at an Ohio high school in late February that left three dead and another at Oakland, Ca., college in early April that left seven dead – have attracted far less public attention.

Still, interest in the Colorado shootings is well below the 68% that said they very closely tracked news about the April 1999 shootings at Colorado’s Columbine High School, where two teenagers killed 13 people and themselves.

Public opinion about gun control has changed little in recent years. In the latest Pew Research survey on the topic in April, 49% say it is more important to protect the rights of Americans to own guns, while 45% say it is more important to control gun ownership. Opinion has been divided since early 2009, shortly after Barack Obama’s election.

While the Tucson and Virginia Tech shootings attracted intense public attention, they did not have a large impact on public opinion about gun control.