“Combined with bump fire stocks, high-capacity magazines allowed the Las Vegas shooter to kill 58 concertgoers in a matter of minutes,” Democratic Florida Congressional Representative Ted Deutch writes at miamiherald.com. “But the massive scale of violence extends so much further. High-capacity magazines make killers capable of firing dozens of bullets before reloading. In the recordings captured by victims in Las Vegas, you can hear the killer fire 90 rounds in just ten seconds.” You know where this is going . . .
Representative Deutch wants to wield the federal ban hammer on “high capacity” ammunition magazines. He’s joined the usual Democrat suspects to throw his support behind the [thankfully doomed] Keep Americans Safe Act outlawing “large capacity ammunition feeding devices.”
Specifically, a “magazine, belt, drum, feed strip, helical feeding device, or similar device, including any such device joined or coupled with another in any manner, that has an overall capacity of, or that can be readily restored, changed, or converted to accept, more than 10 rounds of ammunition.”
The strange thing about Mr. Deutch’s knee jerk reaction: the Gunshine State politician is happy to recognize the fact that a high-cap mag ban wouldn’t do sweet FA to reduce “gun violence.”
Limiting magazines to ten rounds would be a small step toward safety. It would also be popular.
Banning high-capacity magazines is supported by 72 percent of Americans, including law enforcement officers, military veterans and gun safety advocates.
We admit that this legislation won’t fix everything and won’t end gun violence. It won’t address the majority of the 33,000 lives lost to gun violence every year in this country, half of which are suicides.
But without 30-round magazines, mass killers would be forced to spend time reloading, precious time that could allow a victim to escape or law enforcement to intervene.
If that time could help save at least one life, it would be worth it.
And if you could save one life by infringing on another Constitutionally protected right — say, freedom of speech — would that be worth it too?
You can’t expect Mr. Deutch to consider such profound issues when he and his staff (and The Miami Herald) can’t be bothered to get their facts straight.
Banning high-capacity magazines is not a bold new idea. These devices were illegal until 2004 when Congress allowed the Assault Weapons Ban to lapse. That was a mistake, and it’s time to correct it by renewing restrictions on these devices which have no purpose other than highly efficient murder.
Where’s the Keep Americans Safe from Pandering Politicians Act? And here’s a strange thought: the Las Vegas killer’s use of a bump fire stock has diverted attention away from large capacity ammunition magazines (so far) preventing a more concerted effort to ban them.