Colorado Gun Group Battles Magazine Restrictions In Court

In the wake of a mass shooting, there really should be a moratorium on new laws. Florida wasn’t the first state to embrace a gun control measure in the aftermath of a horrific massacre, after all.

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Several years ago, Colorado did the same thing following the theater shooting in Aurora. One thing the legislature passed was a ban on magazines with a capacity of greater than 15 rounds.

Now, that ban is being challenged in court. Finally.

In the latest in a string of legal battles over gun control, Rocky Mountain Guns Owners (RMGO), a pro-gun group, is challenging Colorado’s large-capacity magazine ban in court.

The state’s ban on large-capacity magazines, devices that can hold more than 15 rounds of ammunition, was one of a handful of gun control measures passed in 2013 in the aftermath of the Aurora theatre shooting.

“It was a reaction. An emotional reaction in the legislature to a tragedy and it’s bad public policy. (…) We’re really arguing that it’s unconstitutional and it’s ineffective. It’s not going to stop mass shootings,” said Dudley Brown, the executive director of RMGO.

When asked for the source of the data behind the assertion that magazine bans are ineffective, Brown said there are “many, many data sources.”

“One of them, in the state of Virginia, they have data from the entire 10-year magazine ban on a federal level,” he said. “And it showed no change in the number of high capacity magazines that a criminal was carrying when he was arrested for other crimes. So, what we found is that criminals were still carrying high capacity magazines, even during the ban.”

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Magazine restrictions don’t work, but they’re also stupid just on the face of it.

Anyone can learn to make magazine changes quickly. If you managed to get rid of all your so-called “high capacity” magazines, what would happen? Nothing. Bad guys would just learn to change mags more quickly. That’s it.

Seriously, you can work it out in your bedroom in an afternoon, and it won’t take all afternoon.

Sure, it’ll take more practice to make them really smooth and efficient, but in the case of a mass shooting or other criminal activity, how much more efficiency would they need? They can still do all the damage they want with a 15-round magazine.

“If that’s the case, why do you need a 30-round clip?” some gun grabber might say (hence me using the word “clip” rather than “magazine”).

Well, I don’t necessarily. But when it comes to Second Amendment rights, it’s not on me to explain why I “need” any damn thing. As they say, it’s the Bill of Rights, not the Bill of Needs. I don’t have to justify my need for any item.

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For gun grabbers, it’s on them to justify their restrictive measures as both effective and not infringing on our rights. They can’t. They can’t because even they know they’re infringing on our rights. Hell, they even know that these measures aren’t particularly effective. They just want to start there so they can call for more restrictions when they fail.

I sincerely hope RMGO emerges victorious. Colorado deserves better.

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