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Health & Fitness

Misunderstanding Magazines

Several states have enacted laws prohibiting the purchase, sale, transfer, importation or possession of “high capacity” magazines. Legislators who have voted for these laws have been forthright, these laws are intended to make mass murderers more vulnerable by forcing them to reload more frequently. That would be wonderful if mass murderers were the only people who used limited capacity magazines. But since these laws apply to almost everyone, it means that these laws make almost everyone more vulnerable by forcing additional reloads. The standard response to the concerns about magazine limitations is that law-abiding people only need “X” rounds for self-defense.

An obvious inadequacy of the standard response is telegraphed by the “X” – there is no uniformity in what “high capacity” means. For example, California believes 10 rounds is enough, Maryland thinks 20 is adequate, and New York feels that 7 rounds is more than sufficient. Why such variation? The answer is revealing – none of the laws limiting magazine capacity are based on any objective research. These limitations are based entirely on what is politically achievable because none of the legislatures considered any studies to determine how many rounds is “enough.” In other words, the legislatures did not consider the safety or needs of the law-abiding citizen.

Moreover, the belief that “X” rounds is enough for self-defense is contrary to everything we've learned about using a gun for self-defense. For example, in 1986 the New York City Police Department issued revolvers to its officers and policy prohibited officers from carrying a speedloader. The NYPD believed six rounds were sufficient and concluded that officers could always reload one cartridge at a time. The result, an officer killed while trying to reload, was predictable. As a result of the referenced tragedy, the NYPD changed its policy and allowed its officers to carry speedloaders. The NYPD's policy was particularly shortsighted in that 16 years earlier the California Highway Patrol had changed its policy prohibiting speedloaders, following its own tragedy, and began issuing speedloaders to its officers. In another 1986 incident, two FBI agents were killed while trying to reload one agent's revolver by a suspect who had already been shot five times (including one likely mortal wound). As a result of the 1986 FBI shootout, the FBI and many other law enforcement agencies switched to semi-automatic pistols because of their greater capacity and because they are easier to reload.

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After investigating numerous gun fights, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies found, among other things, that: 1) running out of ammunition during a gun fight is bad, 2) reloading during a gun fight is bad, 3) incapacitating an aggressor may require multiple gunshots, and 4) gun fights frequently involve multiple aggressors. Based on these findings, these agencies made an obvious conclusion – ammunition capacity of a firearm is an important consideration (i.e., weapons that hold more ammunition have an advantage over weapons that hold less ammunition of the same caliber). Another conclusion these agencies reached is that you do not train for the “average” gun fight . . . you train for the worst case scenario. It is for these reasons that almost all law enforcement agencies issue semi-automatic pistols to their officers. It is also why “high capacity” magazine laws generally do not apply to law enforcement agencies.

It's common sense that the conclusions reached by the FBI apply equally to gun fights not involving law enforcement officers. Multiple bad guys? Check. More than 30 rounds needed to end a gun fight? Check. Multiple injuries required to incapacitate an aggressor? Check. Conclusion? Limitations on magazine capacity make it easier for violent criminals to kill law-abiding citizens.

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Image by Oleg Volk.
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