Democrats Are Hitting the Panic Button Early
Cowardice or Conviction: Why Christians Must Choose Trump to Uphold Biblical Principles
DeSantis Schools Reporter Who Suggests Hurricanes, Tornadoes Linked to Climate Change
A Quick Bible Study Vol. 237: What the Bible Says About Truth -...
Co-opting Christ: Pressing Scripture Into Service of Our Political Agendas
Loving With Truth and Wisdom in a World Filled With Pain and Lies
Why Aren’t Christians Voting This Year?
Joe's 2024 Exit Results in Hunter Biden's 'Art' to Face Value Plunge
Republican Raises Concerns About Voting Access in Areas Hit By Hurricanes
How Trump's 'Operation Aurora' Will Save America
Glenn Youngkin Hit With Lawsuit by Biden-Harris DOJ Over Removing Noncitizens From Voter...
Walz Reveals the Harris Campaign's Solution for the Illegal Immigration Crisis
How CBS Weaves Race, Culture Into Every Story
Allred's Response to Cruz Daring to Call Him Out for Failing to Protect...
Here's What Happened to KU Professor Who Called for Men Not Voting for...
OPINION

Magazine Limits Could Endanger Victims Instead of Saving Them

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
A limit on magazine capacity is emerging as a leading contender for the something that supposedly must be done in response to last month's massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. A ban on "large-capacity ammunition feeding devices" is one of the new gun restrictions approved by the New York legislature this week and one of the measures President Obama wants Congress to enact.
Advertisement

The rationale for such limits is that mass murderers need "large-capacity" magazines, while law-abiding citizens don't. Both premises are questionable, and so is the notion that politicians should be the arbiters of necessity under the Second Amendment.

The problem with letting legislators decide what gun owners need is immediately apparent when we ask what qualifies as a "large-capacity" magazine. Under current New York law and under the federal limit that expired in 2004 (which Obama wants Congress to reinstate), more than 10 rounds is "large." This week, the New York legislature redefined "large" as more than seven rounds.

Why? Because seven is less than 10. Duh. Or, as Gov. Andrew Cuomo put it last week, "Nobody needs 10 bullets to kill a deer."

That might count as an argument if the right to keep and bear arms were all about killing deer. But as the Supreme Court has recognized, the Second Amendment is also about defense against individual aggressors, foreign invaders and tyrannical government.

Toward those ends, the Court said, the Second Amendment guarantees the right to own weapons "in common use for lawful purposes," which clearly include guns capable of firing more than 10 rounds (and certainly more than seven) without reloading. The Glock 17, one of the most popular handguns in America, comes with a 17-round magazine. One of the most popular rifles, the AR-15 (a style made by several manufacturers), comes with a 30-round magazine.

Advertisement

Measured by what people actually buy and use, magazines that hold more than 10 rounds are hardly outliers. In fact, there are tens (if not hundreds) of millions already in circulation, which is one reason new limits cannot reasonably be expected to have much of an impact on people determined to commit mass murder.

Another reason is that changing magazines takes one to three seconds, which will rarely make a difference in assaults on unarmed people. The gunman in Connecticut, for example, reportedly fired about 150 rounds, so he must have switched his 30-round magazines at least four times; he stopped only because police were closing in, which prompted him to kill himself.

Magazine size is more likely to matter in confrontations with people who are armed, which is why it is dangerously presumptuous for the government to declare that no one needs to fire more than X number of rounds.

As self-defense experts such as firearms instructor Massad Ayoob point out, there are various scenarios, including riots, home invasions and public attacks by multiple aggressors, in which a so-called large-capacity magazine can make a crucial difference, especially when you recognize that people firing weapons under pressure do not always hit their targets and that assailants are not always stopped by a single round.

Living in Los Angeles during the 1992 riots, I was glad that shopkeepers in Koreatown had "large-capacity" magazines to defend themselves and their property against rampaging mobs. I bet they were, too.

Advertisement

In fact, argues gun historian Clayton Cramer, those magazines may have saved rioters' lives as well, since they allowed business owners to fire warning shots instead of shooting to injure or kill.

If magazines holding more than 10 rounds are not useful for self-defense and defense of others, shouldn't the same limit be imposed on police officers and bodyguards (including the Secret Service agents who protect the president)? And if the additional rounds do provide more protection against armed assailants, it hardly makes sense to cite the threat of such attacks as a reason to deny law-abiding citizens that extra measure of safety.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos