^^how many homicides involve an extended magazine? And even if it were involved, did it really matter? By the first I mean one that is an aftermarket magazine with capacity beyond the standard factory magazine. by the second, I mean 10 shots from a 30rd mag vs 30 shots from a 30rd mag.
Additionally, you can simply have more weapons already loaded rather than changing magazines. The whole reason so many people die in mass shootings isn't because the person doesn't have to reload. It's because there is no one who is able to challenge the shooter. Doesn't matter if you have a 10rd mag or a 30rd mag.
You say it doesn't matter, yet the Arizona shooter was stopped when he tried to reload his weapon after firing about 30 rounds from an extended magazine.
It matters because we should be looking at ways to stop mass murders. These are the kinds of shootings that get he public into a discussion about gun control after all.
Tom's proposal
I'm not necessarily advocating this but I think the following would address most people's issues, with the exception of those people who want no restrictions of any kind.
Three classes of firearms requiring 3 levels of training,commitment,background checks.
Class 1 - rifles, shotguns, and handguns that do not have removable magazines and can hold a max of 6-7 rounds. So revolvers, bolt-action rifles, most shotguns.
Class 2 - semi-auto rifles and pistols that fire one round per human finger pull. magazines limited to 30 rounds.
Class 3 - whatever weapons are currently in the category of automatics, and devices that enable class 2 weapons to fire without a human trigger pull.
Class 1 would require about the same thing as is currently required except background checks for all sales and limits on the number purchased which would probably require some sort of record keeping.
Class 2 additionally would require registration and some sort of renewable license that would include ongoing background checks and training. But Class 2 should not be as restrictive as class 3. The goal wouldn't be to restrict ownership but to require a higher level of commitment.
Class 3 restriction would remain the same.
is worth looking at in regards to mass murders, along with closing loopholes for background checks.
As for your statement that a person not being able to challenge the shooter being more of a factor in mass shootings rather than magazine capacity doesn't really hold water.
There have been mass shootings were a CCW holder with a weapon challenged an in progress mass shooting. It doesn't always end well with the shooter stopped by the armed good guy with a gun
http://www.komonews.com/news/archive/4169986.html
TACOMA - Parents of the man most seriously wounded in a shooting rampage at a shopping mall said Tuesday that he drew a pistol and confronted the gunman before being shot.
Brendan "Dan" McKown, 38, was hit twice in the abdomen on Sunday, when a gunman opened fire on crowds in the Tacoma Mall.
Doctors at Tacoma General Hospital believe McKown may have suffered permanent paralysis because of spinal damage, hospital spokesman Todd Kelley said.
Tacoma police spokesman Mark Fulghum said detectives don't know if McKown simply brandished his handgun to show the gunman he was armed, or if he was preparing to fire the weapon. Witnesses told the family McKown was shot after he pulled the gun.
Roger McKown, 63, of Yelm, called his son a hero and said he has been licensed to carry a firearm for years.
http://www.kltv.com/global/story.asp?s=2994393&ClientType
The two killed at the courthouse have now been identified: Maribel Estrada, the estranged wife of the alleged shooter, David Hernandez Arroyo, and citizen Mark Wilson. Wilson is licensed to carry a concealed weapon and fired several shots at Arroyo. Arroyo, however, was wearing a bulletproof vest.
Sure a CCW holder with a weapon can stop a mass shooter but shootings like that can quickly become chaotic and the presence of more armed people doesn't guarantee less people will be injured.
Problem is that you're assuming that all these nitwits who insist on limiting magazine capacity know anything about guns, let alone ever used one. Sure, I can discharge a weapon using three 10 round magazines almost as fast as I can discharge one loaded with a single 30 round magazine, but logic is not a virtue that can increase popularity ratings and raise advertisement revenues.
Thanks, you've just provided more evidence that there should be a distinction between the class 1 weapons and class 2 weapons in Tom's post.
You're assuming that I've never fired a weapon or that I know nothing about firearms... it'd be nice if people stopped making them in these forums wouldn't it....
No it wasn't, you just don't like it. Sorry to poke a hole in your thought balloon.
Actually it was. sorry that you can't see it.
I am saying that these stupid arbitrary magazine capacities are just that, stupid and arbitrary. A person that has practiced reloading a revolver can reload it, and discharge it, actually with much less chance of FFT from jamming, stove piping, mis-fed, double fed etc ...that magazine fed weapons suffer from, just as fast. Depending on the design, there are just about the same number of actions in reloading a revolver as a magazine fed pistol. This whole argument is asinine.
People who can reload revolvers just as fast as people reloading a semi-auto probably took more practice to become that proficient.
Magazine capacities aren't arbitrary. Jared Loughtner fired about 30 rounds before having to reload. It's possible that if he had to reload after 15 shot he might have killed or injured less people.
Yes your arguments are asinine, stupid and deserving of derision.