Baltimore Police Are Recovering More Guns Loaded With High-Capacity Magazines, Despite Ban on Sales the headline over at thetrace.org proclaims. Wait. Criminals aren’t respecting the Free State’s ban on standard capacity handgun magazines? What are they? Criminals? It gets better/worse . . .
So far, the ban has done little to stamp out the use of big magazines by criminals, an analysis of law enforcement records by The Trace found.
Baltimore police confiscated nearly 450 guns last year with enough room in the magazine to carry at least 11 rounds — high-capacity, as defined by the state — more than during any period in at least the last seven years.
Twenty-two percent of all recovered firearms were equipped with a high-capacity magazine, a 4 percentage point increase over 2013, the year the ban was adopted.
So a gun control law had no effect whatsoever on criminal use of firearms. It made things worse? Well worse if you think that “high capacity” magazine are A) something you can reduce or eliminate amongst the criminal class or B) something worth worrying about.
Baltimore police say larger magazines have surged in popularity among criminals because they can squeeze off more shots without reloading — and increase their odds of a kill.
An investigation by The Baltimore Sun last year found that the number of corpses at the Maryland medical examiner’s office with at least 10 gunshot wounds had doubled in the past decade.
Doubled from what to what? I bet that stat — probably a single digit to a higher single digit deal — wouldn’t be half (50 percent!) as effective at promoting civilian disarmament. So it doesn’t get a look in.
Meanwhile, are we supposed to think Baltimore’s homicide victims would be less dead with less gunshot wounds? How many less rounds?
And would there be less rounds hitting home if the criminals committing homicide had respected Maryland’s mag capacity law? Might they, I dunno, reload? Or take out a second gun?
The Trace is on the case!
T.J. Smith, a Baltimore police spokesperson, said it was not uncommon for officers to pull up at crime scenes and find the street littered with spent shell casings.
Well there you go! There wouldn’t be so many shell casings, so many rounds fired, if only the bad guys obeyed the law before breaking it. While breaking it? Something. Or, as far as I can tell, nothing. Nothing about this law makes any sense.
Certainly not the inevitable reaction of those responsible for disarming law-abiding citizens. Which is, of course, give it time! Must try harder! It’s better than nothing! It’s other states’ fault! Like this:
“That’s disappointing,” Jen Pauliukonis, president of Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence, said after learning about the increase. Her group advocated the ban, which was one of several provisions wrapped into the Firearm Safety Act of 2013.
“I hope as we work toward strengthening implementation and enforcement of the Firearm Safety Act that we still start to see over time a reduction in these numbers,” Pauliukonis said . . .
“It’s more than likely that the effects of the law just haven’t had sufficient time to show,” said the [MD AG’s] spokesperson, Raquel Coombs. She added that it is “possible that we are just now getting to the point where the number of [high-capacity magazines] is below what it would have been in the absence of the law.” . . .
Trace data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives show that the majority of out-of-state crime guns recovered in Maryland originate in Pennsylvania or Virginia. Neither state bans the sale of high-capacity magazines.
Anything to justify gun control. More gun control!
Hawaii, New Jersey, New York and the District of Columbia are the only states that ban outright the ownership of high-capacity magazines, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Come July 1, California may join that list if a measure signed by Governor Jerry Brown survives a legal challenge from gun groups.
Once again we see gun control advocates doubling down on their failed policies. What’s double nothing? Nothing. And who’s actually following these mag cap limit laws? Law abiding citizens like the gentleman above, penalized, hobbled and infringed in the name of public safety.
“It’s always a growing concern any time you have bad guys and criminals on the street that have just as much capacity if not more capacity than
law enforcementa law-abiding citizen has,” [Baltimore police spokesperson T.J.] Smith said. But, he said later, “until there are consequences, I don’t know if the law is really going to matter.”
There. Fixed it for you.
Ban politicians! It’s common sense
Especially in groups of more than 10.
No one needs a high-capacity legislature.
You have the figures backward. Should be “01”.
whaddaya call 10 politicians up to their necks in cement?
not enough cement.
100% of all bad laws come from politicans! Even the Trace can follow that math.
You just don’t understand. Politicians are doing the best they can to prevent gun violence, passing law after law that simply gets ignored by stupid criminals who can’t even read and lack common decency! To make matter worse the surrounding states contribute to the continuing crisis by selling high capacity magazines. They have no decency, either! //sarc//
I am absolutely flabbergasted by the outrageous criminal conduct of these Baltimore thugs. To think that they would (likely with malice aforethought, too) go out and murder someone with a firearm which contains a magazine holding more than TEN (10) more than adequately demonstrates how low they have sunk. Let’s hear it for the criminals who go out and murder their victims with firearms which have a magazine capacity of fewer than TEN (1) rounds, making them at least sorta law-abiding.
And the litter, lets not forget the litter. These people leaving their shell casings at the scene should be ashamed! They need to use revolvers, take the time to pick their cases up or use a brass catcher! Think of the environment folks!
Littering was good enough to get the fellow from Alice’s Restaurant a seat on the group W bench.
In states that ban “high capacity” magazines are the police still allowed/issued high capacity mags?
High capacity, super-duper capacity, jumbo-size, and “walking arsenal.”
In conversation with many LEOs, they carry two extra standard mags for their service weapon. Usually 15-17 pending on the caliber. Surprising to me however, is four have mentioned that they also carry the 30-33 round mags for the SHTF moments. I’ve come in contact with a dozen or so LEOs so at that rate, it is pretty high. Some thing to think about. BTW, I live in NJ.
Maryland doesn’t ban possession. Only buying, selling, and transferring within state lines.
I was reading through the comments hoping someone would’ve mentioned this. The criminals aren’t criminals simply for possessing “high cap” mags. So I’m assuming the police are contacting them for other illegal activities & they just happen to be in possession of them. Since they aren’t illegal it’s kind of worthless to even mention it, unless you want to point out the fact that the ban produces no results. But I guess the antis will use it to push for possession to be made illegal.
Most law abiding gun owners in MD own high cap mags. Now you just buy them out of state which is perfectly legal. So the blame rests on bordering states? The “ban” is to blame for being totally pointless. All this law succeeds in doing is taking money from MD gun shops, & retailers who would otherwise ship mags to MD. To law abiding gun owners it’s an inconvenience at best. I’m sure the criminals are still “buying, selling, transferring, & gifting” mags within MD because as with most gun laws, they are pointless in the fact that they do not prevent the criminals from being criminals & BREAKING THE LAW! & to be honest I don’t blame them for breaking this particular law bc it’s so gd ridiculous.
They still don’t get it and probably never will…
It’s all because of Pennsylvania’s loose gun laws that so many innocent children are dying in the utopia of Baltimore.
Gotta wonder how those Pennsylvania citizens sleep at night.
Safe and sound, with all their guns around to protect them.
Yeah those guns walk to Baltimore, load themselves and cause all those problems somehow.
These are just CLASSIC quotes:
“I hope as we work toward strengthening implementation and enforcement of the Firearm Safety Act that we still start to see over time a reduction in these numbers,” Pauliukonis [Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence] said . . .
“It’s more than likely that the effects of the law just haven’t had sufficient time to show,” said the [MD AG’s] spokesperson, Raquel Coombs. She added that it is “possible that we are just now getting to the point where the number of [high-capacity magazines] is below what it would have been in the absence of the law.” .
So, the volunteer group doesn’t have any data to show that the law would work, they just have “hope.” And this comment from the AG’s spokesperson is one of the standard excuses, “it just might be worse if we didn’t have this law.”
Disgusting.
Wikipedia: An idée fixe is a preoccupation of mind believed to be firmly resistant to any attempt to modify it, a fixation.
Kind of hard for the law to take effect when Maryland doesn’t ban possession of “high-capacity” mags.
High-capacity magazines are no threat in the possession and use by lawfully armed citizens. Everybody has known this forever now. Ridiculous that folks think a ban will serve any purpose whatsoever.
The ban only applies to buying, selling, and transferring.
It says nothing on possession.
“It’s more than likely that the effects of the law just haven’t had sufficient time to show,” said the [MD AG’s] spokesperson, Raquel Coombs.
Okay, Raquel baby. Give it another fifty years or so. And when it’s still not working, give it another fifty.
Okay, tell me, can a medical examiner tell if ten rounds in a corpse came from one magazine?
Usually, I only get my medical examiner facts from fictional T.V.
That’s the same place politicians and juries get ’em!
Well, once they use them up, there won’t be so many in circulation.
At least that’s what the dingbat in CO told us.
Not about crime control! Damn, how many times do we have to say it? The real goal is control of the governments little serfs, the cash cows. We used to be looked upon as law abiding LEGAL CITIZENS with freedoms and liberties.
Article is wrong, NJ gets 15 rounds (for now)
Article is also wrong again that Maryland doesn’t ban POSSESSION of high-cap mags. It only regulates buying, selling, and transferring of them.
….More like the need to later in the future…Charge, prosecute all persons, organizations, police, judges and Politicians involved in this debacle that allowed these entities the ability to criminalize the Citizenry…And infringe upon the constitutional rights of the residents of this fine state…They should all be charged with nothing less than a “Capital Crime” for their actions…
Possession of high capacity magazines is legal in Maryland. You can’t buy, sell or transfer standard capacity and up in the state but you can buy them out of state and bring them in and posses them for personal use. I live in Baltimore and the hoods get pretty close to whoever they are shooting. It’s not a gun problem it’s a gang problem that they can’t control at this time.
+1
So many people here are extremely ignorant to Maryland laws and how they work.
-former Maryland gun owner here
MD only bans the sale of free capacity mags…in the state. Drive to PA or VA, buy all you want and take them home. Just don’t sell them to anyone in the state.
Another racist, classist gun control law. Who do you suppose doesn’t have a car or can’t afford the time to ride the bus or metro to travel interstate? Why that would be the law abiding poor, Alex.
45min drive to the PA border from the weeping cess pit that is “charm city”, baring traffic, to buy free capacity mags at the gun store in that town. Doesn’t hardly hamper regular MD residents, of reasonable means, though it severely limits online purchases, so you can’t take advantage of the best sales
+1
So many people here are extremely ignorant to Maryland laws and how they work.
-former Maryland gun owner here
Another well researched article at TTAG.
Yes, it’s the fault of places like Pennsylvania. And if they’re banned in PA it will be the fault of Idaho. And if it’s banned nationally it will still be the fault of someone. Mexico? Who knows.
But just remember: when liberal laws don’t work, it’s the fault of conservatives.
My sister is a teacher in Baltimore. After 10 years of trying to make difference, she is completely burned out. She is finally getting the hell out of that disgusting shithole and moving to…..Texas!
Good for her. As long as she leaves any and all liberal voting habits she may have had in MD she will be welcome here. Texas however does not want to become another MD, MA, CT, DC, NY, or CA. Those who want to come here only to recreate in Texas the shitholes they left elsewhere will NOT be welcomed here.
Who was that politician that wanted to ban manufacture of high capacity magazines? Her reasoning was that once the bullets in the remaining magazines were fired, the magazines would by useless.
That would be the genius legislator in Colorado.
So, if I make somebody so mad that he really just kills the snot out of me by shooting me 12 times, would my corpse be less happy than if he had only had 9 rounds? And what about caliber? If he kills me real bad with 12 rounds of 9mm, would that be worse than if he just kills me 7 times with a .45? Hmmmmnnn…I’ll have to think about that…
When the government outlaws guns or high capacity magazines, I will become an outlaw.
Except the law in place forbids buying, selling, and transferring them.
It says nothing about possession.
Maryland doesn’t ban POSSESSION of “high-cap” mags, only buying, selling, and transferring them in state.
For years I would go out of state and purchase regular mags. It was and is still legal but the morons who wrote the law never added possession to the final draft even when they had the chance in 2013.
The solution is easy. The City or state should open teh police ranges to everybody. With actual shooting skill fewer bullets will be needed. Fewer innocent people will be wounded or killed by erratic gang-bangers.
The city should put “WANTED-DEAD R ALIVE POSTERS” ON KNOWN BANGERS AND DRUG DEALERS. A reward of $500 should be paid for each verified clean kill of a gangster/killer.
This idea isn’t any sillier or stupid as magazine capacity bans.
The solution is easy. The City or state should open teh police ranges to everybody. With actual shooting skill fewer bullets will be needed. Fewer innocent people will be wounded or killed by erratic gang-bangers.
The city should put “WANTED-DEAD R ALIVE POSTERS” ON KNOWN BANGERS AND DRUG DEALERS. A reward of $500 should be paid for each verified clean kill of a gangster/killer.
This idea isn’t any sillier or stupid as magazine capacity bans.
Maybe a law that requires victims of crime to lay down and relax. Why die all tensed up?
Can we all agree never to use the term “high capacity” when referring to magazines again? I propose the term standard to refer to anything that’s well, standard, with the term “diminished capacity” or “low capacity” for use of anything that has an artificially limited per regulation. There was no such thing hi capacity until legislation was proposed to outlaw a standard design. Don’t let the terrorist, I mean the anti-gunners win.
Criminals cannot OWN a gun, … criminals cannot HAVE a gun in their possession, … criminals cannot even have a gun ANYWHERE they live, drive or otherwise occupy, criminals by definition do NOT CARE WHAT LAWS ARE PASSED which they ignore, break or violate anyway, and is anyone so STUPID that they believe a criminal carrying a gun with MORE THAN 10 ROUNDS in some ways makes that criminal LESS DANGEROUS; so WHY ON EARTH does a politician believe that their passing a LAW that outlaws these so called High Capacity Magazines will somehow make us law-abiding citizens SAFER (possibly the Law Making Politicians who have armed security around themselves feel comfortable), and if they believe public is safer present specific scientific documentation on HOW the public is safer instead of meaningless platitudes to placate the ignorant that SOMEHOW these politicians are doing something which justifies their existence. Like my grandfather would have said, “What a pile of Horse Dew Pucky”.
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