Thursday, June 16, 2011

Ramifications of Tucson, AZ Tragedy concerning High capacity magazines.



 The modern day American gun owner has life pretty good. Current federal regulations allow us to own weapons of almost every caliber, sans explosives and fully automatics, Older Readers will remember a time when things weren't so easy, and citizens of Chicago, new york, and other cites that only allow criminals to own firearms ,can testify first hand to the effect over-baring regulations.

Recently, there have been many high profile cases that may start to reverse the tide of gun control to return to a time of regulating cosmetics and magazines once more. The hot topic on all of the major media outlets shortly after the tragedy in Tucson, AZ was how the mentally unstable shooter had carried a high capacity magazine in his glock. Reports highlighted the 33 round magazine as being what enabled Jared Loughner to commit mass murder. Some states have laws against the sale of such magazines, but they are easy to obtain out of state or through mail-order. A quick check on a sporting-goods store shows they carried hundreds of different magazines of assorted capacity and caliber.
33-round glock magazine.

Most hunting laws limit capacity of a rifle to five rounds, more then enough for black-tail hunting, Yet higher capacity magazines are normally cheaper then five rounders, the product of military surplus and market trends. While if the shooter would have been limited to five rounds, he would have had to reload much sooner, the psycho could have picked up a AR-15 with a beta mag god forbid.

Does this mean we should all be limited to single shot rifles? Or at least limit the sale of high capacity magazines? I don't think so, for a few reasons. First and foremost, it is utterly foolish to be forced to modify, or purchase accessories, to hunt with your factory gun. It equates to another fee for the gun owner to go hunt, or to even legally posses his gun. With times as tough as they are, paying $20 more for a 5-round magazine can stop you from getting a additional tag.

Common surplus magazine, doesn't meet  Oregon hunting laws, retails for .99 cents. compliant magazines start at $15 and go up to $40.

As much as anti-gun groups would like you to believe the opposite,No one is firing wildly at deer with AK-47's, most hunters who would choose a modern sporting arm would use it for it's exceptional accuracy and power, and do his best to take a clean kill. “Spray and Pray” doesn't put meat in the fridge, and in my experience, never happens on a hunt. Most shooters have more common sense then that.

The Real justification for high-capacity magazines is a rather innocent one, fun. Take a look at the Ruger 10/22, one of the most popular target/plinking rifles around right now. Most owners I know made it a point to pick up 25 round magazine or two when they purchased those rifles. There purpose was not a nefarious one, unless shooting through a box of ammo twice as fast is a evil to anyone but the poor pop can down range. For roughly the same cost as a standard nine round, the higher capacity magazines double you fun per load. It is not the job of our government to regulate the rapid expenditures of rim-fire ammunition and the subsequent feelings of joy, as it is not there job to regulate our magazine capacity.

Ruger's new 25-round factory magazine.

Government regulations such as these lead to more punishment and fines upon the modern sportsman, all because of the actions of one man, who should have never been able to obtain a handgun in the first place. We are forced to shoulder the burden as responsible gun owners. As legislation and bills make there way through the pipes, we can not have one tragedy shake up the foundation of our gun rights.

7 comments:

  1. I'm sorry, but I'm not buying any of that. Using the argument that regulation hampers "fun" and cost more money is no argument against senseless loss of life. And it isn't just one man that ever killed an innocent person with a gun here. We have about 100 gun related deaths in the US EVERY DAY. A lot of those cases, usually the ones that have the highest single body count and make the evening news, involve high capacity magazines. The Virginia Tech Shooting, The Westwood Church Shooting, the Columbine Shooting, all had high capacity magazines. If this was one psycho in our history that did this, then maybe you would have a point. Sadly, this isn't the case. I think sportsmen should take the repercussions of spending more money for less rounds if it means half as many people don't have to die in a shooting like the one in Tuscon because a gunman can be stopped after firing 15 bullets instead of 33.

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  2. Hey dude that's pretty neat. I bet one of those would keep the boogies away.

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  3. Hey, my 12ga NEEDS a 30 round drum clip, if I stopped to reload the aluminum cans would get me.

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  4. I've been thinking about getting a gun, though I'd rather have one that I could hide in my pocket or something.

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  5. That's very interesting, I've always thought about getting a gun in case of emergency.

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  6. At least you guys still have options for playing around at the range. Here in Canada all semi-auto rifles are limited to 5 rounds, and full auto is completely banned.

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