Should Democrats support a ban on high capacity magzines?

[jpak]

Poll question: Should Democrats support a ban on high capacity magzines?

[FormerDittoHead]

1. Four polls is a good upper limit for a single day. n/t

[jpak]

2. yup

:hi:

[S_B_Jackson]

20. Care to provide justification for that "yup"?

Why exactly should anyone ban high capacity magazines? And what exactly does "high capacity" mean?

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

3. Democrats should support laws which combat crime while not imiting the freedom of law abiding people

Democrats should choose liberty over "feel good" laws which do little to actually prevent crime.

[PoliticAverse]

4. Why, are high capacity magazine sales down?... n/t

[benEzra]

9. He's advocating "The Magazine Sales Stimulus Act of 2011." (n/t)

[ileus]

5. We shouldn't support any bans on firearm freedoms.

[eallen]

23. Really? You want to repeal the laws restricting fully automatic weapons?

What about laws restricting possession by felons?

:hippie:

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

24. Felons need to be restricted, most of them anyway.

But I'm okay with un-restricting personal autos. CSWs are another animal.

[NewMoonTherian]

30. I'm not familiar with the term CSW. What's that mean? n/t

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

31. CSW =

Crew served weapon...usually larger full auto machine guns, gatling guns...
An M-60 for example.

[oneshooter]

33. Gatling Guns can be owned without a permit.

Since they are manually operated by a crank they are not a "automatic weapon". HOWEVER, if you attach a motor to it, whether air, electric, steam or water, then it becomes a automatic weapon, and the switch, valve or lever become the trigger.

Oneshooter
Armed and Livin in Texas

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

35. I was sort of thinking of an M-134. n/t

[petronius]

6. Any law that restricts, bans, or denies anything should have a sound

empirical justification. Absent that, Ds should be be on the side of liberty and choice...

[spin]

7. When you say "high capacity magazines" what exactly are you referring to?

Do you define a high capacity magazine as one which holds more than 10 rounds or as one which holds more rounds than the standard magazine sold with the pistol?

During the useless assault weapons ban any magazine over 10 rounds if manufactured before a certain cut off date was legal to own. The companies that manufacture magazines went into 24/7 production and produced an enormous quantity of magazines which they sold for inflated prices. There was never a shortage of magazines that would hold more than 10 rounds. They just cost more.

Standard magazines for pistols often hold more than 10 rounds. For example, the standard magazine for a Glock 17 holds 17 9mm rounds. Optional magazines hold 19 or 33 rounds.

Before the assault weapons ban, few shooters I knew were interested in owning an evil looking semi-auto black rifle that was a crippled clone of a real military assault rifle which has the capability of being fully automatic. After the ban most of the shooters I knew suddenly just had to have one of these firearms. Shooters became aware of just how versatile and accurate such weapons are and today they are very popular rifles and very common.

[PavePusher]

12. No, no, no..... didn't you get the memo?

Concrete, defined concepts are sooo passe. Realpolitik is dead...

[Hoopla Phil]

29. Someone here once defined it as 10. . .

then 6. . .

then 5

[benEzra]

8. "Should Democrats ban normal factory magazines for the most popular civilian guns in America"?

Because that's really what you're advocating.

The gun control lobby is not proposing to outlaw, say, pistol magazines over 20 and rifle magazines over 30. They are fighting to ban magazines over 10 rounds (and sometimes 5 for shotguns), a limit which would ban popular civilian guns going back to the 1860's. Look up the standard factory capacity of the Henry carbine, or the Winchester Model 1873 rifle, or the Evans Repeating Rifle, or the Browning P35, or the Smith & Wesson 5906, or the Beretta 92, or the Glock 17/19, or the Springfield XD, or the Smith & Wesson M&P, or the AR-15, which happens to be the most popular civilian centerfire rifle in the United States.

And even some of your "Third Way" gun control advocates have pointed out that capacity limits are pointless:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/13/obama-gun-control-arizona-shooting_n_835103.html

“Actually, I like this,” emailed Jim Kessler, a former director of policy and research at Americans for Gun Safety. “There will be a knee-jerk reaction among some who will say, “Why no clip ban?” But I think on both substance and political grounds, a high-capacity clip ban is the wrong way to go. There were roughly 12,000 gun homicides last year, and I’ll wager that less than 10 were caused by bullets 11 through 30 in someone’s magazine. The problem is bullets 1, 2, and 3 –- not 11, 12, and 13."

[DissedByBush]

34. "The problem is bullets 1, 2, and 3 –- not 11, 12, and 13"

Classic! I love that line, so true.

[TheWraith]

10. Of course not. There's no evidence they are statistically significant in crime.

The key phrase being "statistically significant." You can find anecdotes to support any sort of ridiculous argument.

[east texas lib]

11. Yes, if the magazines have too many pages with words in them...

Girly pictures, gun pictures, or girly holding gun pictures are OK.

[PavePusher]

13. We should definitely ban the ones...

that you can get really sticky...

[east texas lib]

14. Oh...all right.

Buzzkiller.;)

[Union Scribe]

18. I hate it when you pick one up and all those subscription cards fall out.

Why the hell do they think I need fifteen of them?

[pscot]

15. Why bother

It only takes 3 seconds to change clips.

[spin]

16. Far less than that with practice. (n/t)

Check out this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAFxgQmxbGI

[Philippine expat]

17. Only if they want to lose votes n/t

[lawodevolution]

19. Looks like this poll didn't work out for you

[jpak]

21. It's the Gungeon and expected

If I could post this in GD - the result would be different

yup

[eqfan592]

26. Lol, you just keep telling yourself that, jpak.

Whatever helps you sleep. ;)

[krispos42]

28. Go ahead. You should define what "high capacity" means, and post the poll.

Or better yet, let DUers decide.


Q: What should the limit on magazine capacity be for firearms sold in the US? (exclude military and law enforcement)

A0: No limit
A1: 7 rounds
A2: 10 rounds
A3: 12 rounds
A4: 15 rounds
A5: 20 rounds
A6: 30 rounds
A7: Must fit flush with handgun's frame
A8: Must not extend more than 1" past handgun's frame
A9: Must not extend more than 2" past handgun's frame


Go for it!

[lawodevolution]

37. Yes, the gungeon, where 90% of the anti gun posters also claim to own guns.

[ileus]

22. Freedom is on the march again...

[Glassunion]

25. My question would be why should they?

[The Green Manalishi]

27. Why should they?

Because we don't have enough Republicans in office.

Because the NRA doesn't have enough membership, money or clout.

Because there are still some hard working middle class gun owners who think that a serious percentage of the leadership of us Democrats aren't completely batshit crazy as regards anti firearms laws.

Because it 'feels good' to pass silly laws that serve no function.

The only people in favor of stupid crap like this must either be Republican plants or highly out of touch with Americans outside of inner-urban or ivory tower areas. Anyone proposing things that do no good, restrict freedoms, piss of law abiding citizens and empower our opposition must be either naive, outright stupid or doing to work of the Republican party.

[DWC]

32. Amen !!! n/t

[Common Sense Party]

36. Should Democrats support a ban on, say, semi-trucks?

No one NEEDS that much capacity. You can get from here to there in a Prius.

[SteveM]

38. Get around "high capacity" by using 2 or 3 short more concealable ones.

[friendly_iconoclast]

39. Some people apparently feel spree killers should be forced to reload.

I've noted before that Cho at Virginia Tech killed and wounded more people using "Brady Campaign-friendly" magazines

than did Loughner in Tuscon, who used a so-called "assault magazine".