Ban on Magazines Holding over 10 Rounds Passes Washington Senate

A ban on magazines holding more than ten rounds passed in the Washington Senate Wednesday night and now moves to the state’s House of Representatives.

The legislation, Senate Bill 5078, says, “Firearms equipped with large capacity magazines increase casualties by allowing a shooter to keep firing for longer periods of time without reloading. Large capacity magazines have been used in all 10 of the deadliest mass shootings since 2009, and mass shooting events from 2009 to 2018 where the use of large capacity magazines caused twice as many deaths and 14 times as many injuries.”

SB 5078 does not mention the benefit law-abiding citizens derive from having more than ten rounds in a magazine if multiple, armed intruders enter their home in the middle of the night.

However, the text of SB 5078 does claim there are “studies showing that mass shooting fatalities declined during the 10-year period when the federal assault weapon and large capacity magazine ban was in effect.” They do not name the “studies,” but in 2018 Breitbart News pointed to a Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice (NIJ) which noted that results of the ban on “assault weapons” and “high capacity” magazines was negligible at best.

The Washington Times quoted University of Pennsylvania professor Christopher Koper, author of the NIJ report, saying, “We cannot clearly credit the ban with any of the nation’s recent drop in gun violence. And, indeed, there has been no discernible reduction in the lethality and injuriousness of gun violence.”

The NIJ report continued, “The ban’s effects on gun violence are likely to be small at best and perhaps too small for reliable measurement.”

The NRA-ILA notes, “These so-called ‘high capacity’ magazines are, in fact, standard equipment for commonly-owned firearms that many Americans constitutionally and effectively use for an entire range of lawful purposes, such as self-defense or competition.

For example, the Glock 19 was the most commonly purchased firearm of 2021 and has a standard-issue magazine that holds 15 rounds of ammunition.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.