High-capacity magazine

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A high-capacity magazine (or large-capacity magazine) is a firearm magazine capable of holding more than the standard number of rounds provided by the designer, or legally, a particular number of cartridges dependent on jurisdiction and kind of firearm.

For legal purposes, in some jurisdictions, magazines holding more than 10 rounds are considered "high-capacity." This can be problematic as the manufacturer's standard magazine capacity for most modern semi-automatic pistols is between 15 and 18 rounds and all modern sporting rifles come standard with magazines holding between 20 and 30 rounds The pro- second amendment community commonly calls these magazines standard capacity magazines.

Typically, standard capacity magazines with more than ten rounds use staggered, box magazines for reliable loading. Magazines that hold more than standard capacity magazines often use longer magazines and some use a drum mechanism. The problem is that these larger than standard magazines often are unreliable and lack the mechanical design and R&D testing resources of a firearm manufacturer. With the larger number of cartridges, there is a higher chance that they will become misaligned before or during firing. As a result, these products are prone to jamming, rendering the firearm useless.

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United States

In the United States, since the 1980s, magazine capacity has been a subject of debate regarding civilian firearms. Many assault weapon bans since then have included or been accompanied by large-capacity or high-capacity magazine bans. Magazine capacity is also debated among military users, who have to balance the greater firepower of high-capacity magazines with their greater weight, size and reliability. A majority of Americans support a ban on the sale and possession of high capacity magazines.

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Use in mass shootings

Half of mass shootings involve the use of high capacity magazines. Such magazines, defined by the act of Congress H.R. 4296 as "a magazine, belt, drum, feed strip, or similar device that has a capacity of, or that can be readily restored or converted to accept, more than 10 rounds of ammunition" became lawful to own when the "Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act" expired on September 13th, 2004. This also lifted restrictions on cosmetic changes that made firearms appear to be militaria. Magazine capacity restrictons have proven problematic because any given firearm can function using any given compatible magazine, regardless of capacity.

The following describes a few instances in which high capacity magazines were used in mass killings- In 2011, a shooting in Tucson, Arizona, was stopped when the gunman stopped firing in order to change magazines. The "high-capacity" magazine on his Glock pistol allowed him to fire 31 rounds before pausing. The Glock company website said that a standard magazine for its 9 mm semiautomatic pistol was between 13 and 17 rounds. In the 2012 Aurora shooting, a 100-round drum magazine used by the shooter jammed. According to one senior FBI agent, "If his firing mechanism had not seized, he could have wiped out the entire audience in a few minutes." Although they are capable of delivering a large number of rounds, drum magazines are known to be unreliable, and heavy enough to significantly reduce accuracy.

The debate regarding magazine capacity intensified in the U.S. after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting where an AR-15 style rifle with 30-round magazines were used by the shooter. In January 2013, President Barack Obama included a ban on gun magazines with capacities of more than 10 rounds in a list of gun-control laws he asked Congress to act on, but no legislation was successfully passed. The Virginia state panel that examined the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007 found that "10-round magazines that were legal would have not made much difference in the incident. Even pistols with rapid loaders could have been about as deadly in this situation," ; but also stated "having the ammunition in large capacity magazines facilitated his killing spree."

The gunman in the 2013 Los Angeles International Airport shooting used a 30-round magazine for his AR-15 style rifle, a Smith & Wesson M&P15. That was one of 17 high-profile mass shootings which involved the use of "high-capacity" magazines that were cited by the Los Angeles City Council when it passed a ban on possession of such magazines in 2015. Other local incidents cited by supporters of the ban include the Los Angeles Jewish Community Center shooting and the 2013 Santa Monica College shooting. Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik used 30-round magazines illegal in California during the 2015 San Bernardino attack. Four such magazines were in their possession. Following the attack, there were calls for banning possession of "high-capacity" magazines in California.

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Legal Status

As of 2017, eight U.S. states had laws banning high-capacity magazines. California passed prop 63 in 2016, banning the possession of high capacity magazines holding over ten rounds, but on appeal, the federal courts stayed the new law as the state failed to show how this law didn't violate the second amendment or the property rights of owners of previously legal goods. More importantly, the court reviewed how "Banning magazines over ten rounds is no more likely to reduce criminal abuse of guns than banning high horsepower engines is likely to reduce criminal abuse of automobiles,". In fact, the court found that "The State's preliminary theoretical and empirical evidence is inconclusive. In fact, it would be reasonable to infer, based on the State's evidence, that a right to possess magazines that hold more than 10 rounds may promote self-defense - especially in the home ..."