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Is it legal to have magazines in any state?

yankees98a

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Are magazines (for XD 9 or XD45) legal to have in any state (without a gun)?

Since it's just the magazine I would assume yes?
 

marshaul

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Right. For example, in California you don't want to be caught with magazines over 10 rnd capacity, unless you can prove you owned them pre-ban. And you don't have to have the gun to go with it to get busted.
 

MetalChris

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In Ohio you can't have anything over 30 rounds. Well technically you can have it, but can't insert it into a weapon.
 

mjones

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marshaul wrote:
Right. For example, in California you don't want to be caught with magazines over 10 rnd capacity, unless you can prove you owned them pre-ban. And you don't have to have the gun to go with it to get busted.

Importation, manufacture, selling or loaning (unless you remain present) magazines with a capacity greater then 10 rounds is illegal in CA, not posession.

12020. (a) Any person in this state who does any of the following
is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year
or in the state prison:
(2) Commencing January 1, 2000, manufactures or causes to be
manufactured, imports into the state, keeps for sale, or offers or
exposes for sale, or who gives, or lends, any large-capacity
magazine.
(25) As used in this section, "large-capacity magazine" means any
ammunition feeding device with the capacity to accept more than 10
rounds, but shall not be construed to include any of the following:
(A) A feeding device that has been permanently altered so that it
cannot accommodate more than 10 rounds.
(B) A .22 caliber tube ammunition feeding device.
(C) A tubular magazine that is contained in a lever-action
firearm.
 

Legba

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MetalChris wrote:
In Ohio you can't have anything over 30 rounds. Well technically you can have it, but can't insert it into a weapon.
We seem to be the only ones to have noticed. I know of wholesalers who advertise higher-capacity stuff here, and I've seen people at the range with drum mags for rifles.

-ljp
 

marshaul

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mjones wrote:
marshaul wrote:
Right. For example, in California you don't want to be caught with magazines over 10 rnd capacity, unless you can prove you owned them pre-ban. And you don't have to have the gun to go with it to get busted.

Importation, manufacture, selling or loaning (unless you remain present) magazines with a capacity greater then 10 rounds is illegal in CA, not posession.

12020.  (a) Any person in this state who does any of the following
is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year
or in the state prison:
(2) Commencing January 1, 2000, manufactures or causes to be
manufactured, imports into the state, keeps for sale, or offers or
exposes for sale, or who gives, or lends, any large-capacity
magazine.
(25) As used in this section, "large-capacity magazine" means any
ammunition feeding device with the capacity to accept more than 10
rounds, but shall not be construed to include any of the following:
   (A) A feeding device that has been permanently altered so that it
cannot accommodate more than 10 rounds.
   (B) A .22 caliber tube ammunition feeding device.
   (C) A tubular magazine that is contained in a lever-action
firearm.
Right, which means the only possible way to own a legal standard-capacity magazine is to have owned it pre-ban.

Edit: I see what you're getting at, technically if you bought a standard-cap mag in-state the crime would not be your possession but the sale of it to your person.

Is there any precedent for this circumstance? Is it actually effectively legal to buy a standard-cap mag and simply "not keep a record" of the transaction or seller, and to subsequently keep and possess that magazine?
 

rodbender

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Jun 23, 2008
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Navasota, Texas, USA
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Could you buy a high capicity mag in say Arizona or Nevada and take it into Califirnia and be legal? Never mind, I missed imports.
 

mjones

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Messages
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Location
Prescott, AZ
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marshaul wrote:
Right, which means the only possible way to own a legal standard-capacity magazine is to have owned it pre-ban.

Edit: I see what you're getting at, technically if you bought a standard-cap mag in-state the crime would not be your possession but the sale of it to your person.

Is there any precedent for this circumstance? Is it actually effectively legal to buy a standard-cap mag and simply "not keep a record" of the transaction or seller, and to subsequently keep and possess that magazine?

Its certainly a fine line...since posession isn't a crime it would be neccessary to prove that a person violated one of the conditions legislated.

Proof might be as simple as a date-code stamped somewhere on the magazine. An even more clear method of proof would be something like a credit card record.

I'm certainly not advocated that anyone skirt the law, I just wanted to make sure that people understand that there isn't any legislation in California against mere posession of a standard capacity mag.
 

zoom6zoom

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Jun 24, 2006
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Dale City, VA, Virginia, USA
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I think it's important to perpetuate our own terminology... "standard capacity" and "reduced capacity" rather than the "High Capacity" tag applied by the banners.
 
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