The Numbers Don't Lie: Confiscating Americans' So-Called High-Capacity Magazines Would Be an Unmitigated Disaster
I may not have been born in Texas, but after living in the state for just shy of 21 years, through all of my years in schooling, I consider myself a Texan.
And if you don’t know, there’s a famous saying in the state that comes from a flag used in the Texas Revolution: “Come and take it.”
The saying dates back to Spartan King Leonidus I, who supposedly mocked the Persian army with the ancient equivalent of the phrase — “Molon labe” — at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C.
Texas adopted the slogan after American colonists refused to return a cannon to Mexico that was given to them in 1831 so they could defend themselves from the local natives. Four years later, the colonists wanted to defend themselves from the Mexican government.
Some things have not changed much.
As in the times of Leonidus and the Texas Revolution, there are still people in power wishing to disarm the population and confiscate their weapons.
Lawmakers are constantly pushing forth new bills to restrict and regulate firearms, very commonly coming after what they call “high capacity” magazines.
According to the anti-gun Giffords Law Center, any magazine above 10 rounds of ammunition is considered a “large capacity” magazine.
However, for firearm owners, magazines above 10 rounds are simply the norm.
As the National Shooting Sports Foundation reported Friday, the great majority of detachable magazines made by manufacturers and sold in the aftermarket over more than 30 years exceeded the 10-round number.
The firearms industry group’s “Detachable Magazine Report: 1990-2021” found that about 718 million of an estimated 964 million detachable magazines from that period have a capacity exceeding 10 rounds.
The NSSF said nearly half of the magazines in the study — 46 percent — were rifle magazines with capacity for 30-plus rounds.
“The consumer market totals of rifle magazines show 30+ capacity magazines, over 413 million, are over 30 times the amount available than 10 and below capacity rifle magazines, about 13 million,” the group said.
Pistol magazines also trend toward higher capacities.
Fifty-four percent of those were for 11 rounds or greater, compared with 46 percent at 10 or under, falling in line with many states’ restrictions.
Higher-capacity magazines are undoubtedly the preference of gun owners.
This month, when a judge in Washington state briefly lifted the 2022 ban on “high-capacity magazines,” gun store owners reported customers flocking to purchase the once-banned merchandise.
Wally Wentz, who owns Gator’s Custom Guns in Kelso, said that in the 90 minutes before the Washington Supreme Court reinstated the law, he managed to sell hundreds of these magazines.
Gun owners continue to make it clear: They like their guns in ways that lawmakers don’t want them to.
Efforts to eliminate the Second Amendment rights of Americans will end badly, whether it’s today or down the line.
If the day ever comes when the government decides to try to confiscate American citizens’ firearms or magazines, it will be a rough time.
But fighting for those rights is the plight of today’s gun owners — something they need to do to ensure future generations can protect themselves and their families.
So in the words of the Texas revolutionaries, “Come and take it.”
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