Increasing Rate Of Gun Clip Seizures In Virginia Tied To Lift Of Assault Weapons Ban

Posted by | January 23, 2011 12:16 | Filed under: Top Stories


Ever since the ban on assault weapons was lifted in late 2004, the number of high-capacity magazine guns seized by Virginia police has risen.

The number of guns with high-capacity magazines seized by Virginia police dropped during a decade-long federal prohibition on assault weapons, but the rate has rebounded sharply since the ban was lifted in late 2004, according to a Washington Post analysis.

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.

Virginia stats are a good argument for reinstating the assault weapons ban.

The pattern in Virginia “may be a pivotal piece of evidence” that the assault weapons ban eventually had an impact on the proliferation of high-capacity magazines on the streets, said Garen Wintemute, head of the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California at Davis.

“Many people, me included, were skeptical about the chances that the magazine ban would make a difference back in 1994,” Wintemute said. “But what I am seeing here is that after a few years’ lag time the prevalence of high-capacity magazines was declining. The increase since the ban’s repeal is quite striking.”

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Copyright 2011 Liberaland
By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.

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