In Virginia, high-yield clip seizures rise

From Washington Post:

"More than 15,000 guns equipped with high-capacity magazines - defined under the lapsed federal law as holding 11 or more bullets - have been seized by Virginia police in a wide range of investigations since 1993, the data show.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...1/22/AR2011012204046.html?sid=ST2011012300277

.......--Moderator Edited--

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like most articles, this uses a lot of miss leading stats. it talks about how many guns with hc clips were confiscated since the bogus assault weapons band was lifted. it did not say how many of theses were used in a crime, nor what percentage of these were of the total sales. also, there was no mention of crime stats. during the same time. way down in the article, it did let pro forces point out that the anti's could not point out the effectiveness of the band. :banghead:

Virginia already has a high capacity magazine posession ban. It is called the assault weapon ban.

It would be interesting to see what percentage of the violent crime arrests included a charge for violation of the assault weapons ban. This would give us an idea of how rampant the use of "high capacity" magazines is in violent crime.

The feeble attempt at using statistics by the WaPo should not be minimized. We should develop better and more reasoned statistics.

Thundar said:

Virginia already has a high capacity magazine posession ban. It is called the assault weapon ban.

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A ban? All I was aware of is that there's still a definition of "assault weapon" - a firearm with a greater than 20 round magazine, a folding stock, and/or threaded barrel - for which you have to provide proof of citizenship (when purchasing from an FFL).

I've never had any problem buying a high-capacity magazine alone, though.

Thundar said:

It would be interesting to see what percentage of the violent crime arrests included a charge for violation of the assault weapons ban. This would give us an idea of how rampant the use of "high capacity" magazines is in violent crime.

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Agreed. I expect that the numbers have gone up simply because the magazines are now available.

Well it's a good thing they're all in a huff about clips and not magazines because none of my semi-auto handguns use a clip so I'm good to go.

One thing I noticed as stereotypical Washington Post nonsense was the following bit of illogical tripe:

In Richmond in 2003, Michael Antoine Wilson, 21, used his semiautomatic rifle with its 30-round magazine to shoot his 17-year-old girlfriend to death in front of children and relatives. Then he went to a nearby convenience store, killed two workers and stole a van before turning the gun on himself.

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So I count 4 shots fired. How does the fact that his magazine held 30 rounds make these crimes any ore egregious? If he had a 10 round magazine, would that somehow have made this crime less evil? If he had several 5-round mags, would his crime spree have been somehow less deadly?

The WaPo is staffed with an interesting combination of idiots and master propagandists. It's good for a laugh, and makes acceptable hamster-cage liner, but as a news source, it leaves a LOT to be desired...


Also, I'm wondering how many of these "seized" handguns in VA are "seized" during illegal harassament of lawful OCers, or are confiscated during traffic stops, or for "officer safety" during otherwise non-violent, and non-threatening situations. I imagine a good 90% of the people on OCDO in VA have at least one handgun with "high capacity" magazines--Glocks, Para Ordnance, XDs, HiPoints, heck, just about every manufacturer out there makes guns with "high cap" mags these days, if you use the 10-round capacity as being the cut-off mark for "low capacity"...

BS, Washington Post. I call BS...

Riana said:

A ban? All I was aware of is that there's still a definition of "assault weapon" - a firearm with a greater than 20 round magazine, a folding stock, and/or threaded barrel - for which you have to provide proof of citizenship (when purchasing from an FFL).

I've never had any problem buying a high-capacity magazine alone, though.


Agreed. I expect that the numbers have gone up simply because the magazines are now available.

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Yes I was loose with my language, and intentionally so. It was a bad thing to do, but you see how deflated their ban becomes when you tell them we already have a ban?

Riana said:

A ban? All I was aware of is that there's still a definition of "assault weapon" - a firearm with a greater than 20 round magazine, a folding stock, and/or threaded barrel - for which you have to provide proof of citizenship (when purchasing from an FFL).

I've never had any problem buying a high-capacity magazine alone, though.


Agreed. I expect that the numbers have gone up simply because the magazines are now available.

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It's actually an "Assualt Firearm" definition.

18.2-308.2:01. Possession or transportation of certain firearms by certain persons.
C. For purposes of this section, "assault firearm" means any semi-automatic center-fire rifle or pistol that expels single or multiple projectiles by action of an explosion of a combustible material and is equipped at the time of the offense with a magazine which will hold more than 20 rounds of ammunition or designed by the manufacturer to accommodate a silencer or equipped with a folding stock.

Currently, there is no stand-alone definition of any sort of "high capacity" magazine.

The proposed bill (HB2524) as written, prohibits magazines of "20 or more rounds" and would make an "assault firearm" as defined above (based on magazine capacity) an impossibility.:uhoh:

nova said:

They say "clip" in the title but then in the article use the correct word, magazine. It's like they don't know which is correct so they just use both.

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Them and hundreds of others.. including many gun owners I know.

As Dreamer alluded to, I put the Post in my cat's litter box and he refused to use it.

It would have been redundant according to him.

They don't even try to hide their bias any more

So that I can be sure to offend everyone I refuse to use the term Clip, Mag or Magazine to reference that thing that holds the ammo in a semi-automatic firearm any more. I choose to use the term "ammothingy" to refer to any and all types of devices for holding ammo. I would like to propose that everyone do the same but I am sure I will get chastised for even offering such a solution so have at it.

PT111 said:

So that I can be sure to offend everyone I refuse to use the term Clip, Mag or Magazine to reference that thing that holds the ammo in a semi-automatic firearm any more. I choose to use the term "ammothingy" to refer to any and all types of devices for holding ammo. I would like to propose that everyone do the same but I am sure I will get chastised for even offering such a solution so have at it.

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A friend of mine had a kid that hated watching TV with any "shoots" (guns) in it because she was afraid of the noise. As she grew older, my friend as a joke still calls her gun her "shoot" and her ammo is "shoot food". It talks all kinds

Riana said:

A ban? All I was aware of is that there's still a definition of "assault weapon" - a firearm with a greater than 20 round magazine, a folding stock, and/or threaded barrel - for which you have to provide proof of citizenship (when purchasing from an FFL).

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Carrying loaded firearms in public areas
It shall be unlawful for any person to carry a loaded (a) semi-automatic center-fire rifle or pistol that expels single or multiple projectiles by action of an explosion of a combustible material and is equipped at the time of the offense with a magazine that will hold more than 20 rounds of ammunition or designed by the manufacturer to accommodate a silencer or equipped with a folding stock or (b) shotgun with a magazine that will hold more than seven rounds of the longest ammunition for which it is chambered on or about his person on any public street, road, alley, sidewalk, public right-of-way, or in any public park or any other place of whatever nature that is open to the public in the Cities of Alexandria, Chesapeake, Fairfax, Falls Church, Newport News, Norfolk, Richmond, or Virginia Beach or in the Counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Henrico, Loudoun, or Prince William.

The provisions of this section shall not apply to law-enforcement officers, licensed security guards, military personnel in the performance of their lawful duties, or any person having a valid concealed handgun permit or to any person actually engaged in lawful hunting or lawful recreational shooting activities at an established shooting range or shooting contest. Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+18.2-287.4

Grapeshot said:

Carrying loaded firearms in public areas
It shall be unlawful for any person to carry a loaded (a) semi-automatic center-fire rifle or pistol that expels single or multiple projectiles by action of an explosion of a combustible material and is equipped at the time of the offense with a magazine that will hold more than 20 rounds of ammunition or designed by the manufacturer to accommodate a silencer or equipped with a folding stock or (b) shotgun with a magazine that will hold more than seven rounds of the longest ammunition for which it is chambered on or about his person on any public street, road, alley, sidewalk, public right-of-way, or in any public park or any other place of whatever nature that is open to the public in the Cities of Alexandria, Chesapeake, Fairfax, Falls Church, Newport News, Norfolk, Richmond, or Virginia Beach or in the Counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Henrico, Loudoun, or Prince William.

The provisions of this section shall not apply to law-enforcement officers, licensed security guards, military personnel in the performance of their lawful duties, or any person having a valid concealed handgun permit or to any person actually engaged in lawful hunting or lawful recreational shooting activities at an established shooting range or shooting contest. Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+18.2-287.4

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While the above fits one definition of "assault weapon," I didn't really consider this an "assault weapon ban," as it's only a ban on carry, not purchase or possession, and only addresses magazine capacity, not the other "evil" features that constitute an "assault weapon" under VA law, and only applies to particular counties.

ed said:

Them and hundreds of others.. including many gun owners I know.

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+1

shared this photo with friends

PT111 said:

So that I can be sure to offend everyone I refuse to use the term Clip, Mag or Magazine to reference that thing that holds the ammo in a semi-automatic firearm any more. I choose to use the term "ammothingy" to refer to any and all types of devices for holding ammo. I would like to propose that everyone do the same but I am sure I will get chastised for even offering such a solution so have at it.

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Sorry, I can't do that. I associate the non-word "thingy" with teenage girls. You know, the ones who also say, "I'm like" and "I go".

Riana said:

While the above fits one definition of "assault weapon," I didn't really consider this an "assault weapon ban," as it's only a ban on carry, not purchase or possession, and only addresses magazine capacity, not the other "evil" features that constitute an "assault weapon" under VA law, and only applies to particular counties.

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Neither this thread nor the Washington Post article that precipitated it are about "assault weapons." The focus is on high capacity magazines.

I have the article right here in front of me.

A sub-head line proclaims: "Magazine Capacity Tracked by Police"

Too bad they don't track and publish rights violations by their officers.

nova said:

high yield? Are they talking finance or bombs?

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Probably just an accidental slip. "High yield" is probably editor-jargon for inflammatory language.

Grapeshot said:

Neither this thread nor the Washington Post article that precipitated it are about "assault weapons." The focus is on high capacity magazines.

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I know - I was referencing specifically Thundar's comment and yours - that's where "assault weapon" came from.