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President Joe Biden and other gun-ban advocates like to tell Americans that firearms magazines that hold more than 10 rounds are “evil.” What they don’t tell you, however, is that these magazines, which they want to ban, make up the vast majority of mags owned by Americans.

As recently as Feb. 14 Biden called for a ban on what he calls “high-capacity” magazines, which are actually standard-capacity magazines that come stock with most semi-auto firearms sold today.

“I ask the country to stand with me,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House. “To make your voice heard in Congress so we finally act to ban assault weapons, to limit high-capacity magazines, strengthen background checks, keep guns out of the hands of those who have no business owning them or handling them. We know what we have to do, we just need the courage to do it.”

While all that might sound good to some who don’t understand the truth about “assault weapons” and “high-capacity” magazines, a recently released report from the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) revealed how widespread such magazines truly are. And according to that report, magazines that hold 11 rounds or more are the “national standard.”

According to the report, which surveyed over 30 years of detachable magazine production and distribution, revealed that of the conservatively 963,772,000 detachable magazines supplied from a firearm manufacturer and in the aftermarket, at least 717,900,000 have a capacity exceeding 10 rounds.

“The Detachable Magazine Report (1990-2021) confirms what NSSF has known—that the national standard for magazine capacity for America’s gun owners is greater than 10 rounds,” the organization stated in a news item detailing the report. “With nearly 1 billion detachable magazines in circulation, for both rifles and pistols, they are unquestionably commonly-owned and commonly-used for lawful firearm use, including recreational target shooting, hunting and self-defense. They are ‘arms’ within the meaning of the Second Amendment. Detachable magazines are integral to the design of, and necessary for the proper functioning of, today’s modern semi-automatic firearms.”

According to the report, about 46 percent of the magazines estimated in this study are rifle magazines with 30-plus round capacity. The percentage of detachable magazines at 11-plus capacity is about 55 percent of total pistol magazines. The amount of 10 and below capacity rifle magazines supplied from the manufacturer is over one and a half times the amount of 30-plus capacity rifle magazines. The consumer market totals of rifle magazines show 30-plus capacity magazines, over 413 million, are over 30 times the amount available than 10 and below capacity rifle magazines, about 13 million.

Lawrence Keane, NSSF senior vice president & general counsel, said the report should be eye-opening to those trying to ban such magazines.

“The data establishes that law-abiding gun owners overwhelmingly choose magazines that have a capacity to hold more than 10 rounds for lawful purposes including self-defense, target shooting and hunting,” Keane said.

Digging deeper, the report indicated that of the 717,900,000 detachable magazines for pistols and rifles with a capacity greater than 10 rounds, 209,145,000 pistol magazines are in circulation from combined sales through firearm manufacturers (those magazines included with the firearm) and aftermarket production. Rifle magazines with a capacity greater than 10 rounds accounted for 508,755,000 and rifle magazines with a capacity of 30 rounds or greater totaled an estimated 448,369,000 from combined sale of those included with a firearm at sale and the aftermarket.

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61 COMMENTS

    • “for lawful purposes”

      Standard capacity magazines are in common use for lawful purposes and there’s really no arguing the fact. Or there shouldn’t be.

      • Now consider how many of those 10 rounders were sold to those in ban States and would not exist except for those laws.

  3. Be careful about the over ten rounds for hunting. Migratory bird hunters are limited to three rounds. Some states limit the number of rounds a hunter can have in a center fire rifle to five rounds. Unless it recently changed Florida does. Never saw anyone get a citation for having seven rounds in their Winchester 94 though.

    • I got called out by a game warden while dove hunting in Texas. My old Remington Sportsman 58 only held three rounds max and he demanded to see my “Plug” (1100’s used plugs). I had to dismantle the gun to prove that a plug could not be fitted to it.

  4. Totally impossible to round up 7 million human sized illegals that have to move about and interact but definitely possible to round up 700 million little boxes that can quietly sit still for hundreds of years.

    • 7 million prospective Democrat voters distributed to marginal electorates to swing the election?

    • It’s all about priorities, isn’t it? BTW, the number is WELL over 30 million illegals, at this point. What’s the population of your city or state?

      2018 Yale, MIT study
      Our results lead us to the conclusion that the widely accepted estimate of 11.3 million undocumented immigrants in the United States is too small. Our model estimates indicate that the true number is likely to be larger, with an estimated ninety-five percent probability interval ranging from 16.2 to 29.5 million undocumented immigrants.

      P.S. They want to both disarm us and replace us for the EXACT same reason: a more compliant population is easier to control. Propagandists and their low IQ followers scream xenophobia, racism, conspiracy theory, etc. because they need you to shut up about it.

      P.P.S. I just realized your 7 million figure probably represents the illegal “newcomers” that the Puppet invited through the totally closed border. (Dems are still pretending the total number is around 10 million in the entire country.)

  5. Fed.gov wants us to give up our standard-cap mags? Them first.

    They’ve lost track of 6 nukes over the last 70 years, and they have the temerity to say we can’t be trusted with an AR-15??

    • If I put a 10 round mag in a 1911, does that count as high cap? Standard is 7 or 8 right? Asking for a friend.

  6. I submitted a comment cautioning hunters about magazine capacity while hunting. Censored.Mag capacity is restricted many places while hunting. Even if ownership isn’t.

  9. prosecute the use of them in violent crime more severely than single shots, arrows and knives.

  10. Okay, TTAG. You want to moderate three comments in a row? No cursing. Nothing controversial. Just hoping to clear up a point the author brought up concerning hunting and magazine capacity.

    • Posting too much too fast perhaps? Might be an automated spam filter or something being triggered.

    • The out-of-control moderation on TTAG over the past year+ is exactly why I’ve been visiting this site maybe 1/4 as much as before. I pass over most of the articles now, and seldom post comments.

      I was hoping the new ownership would have been a spark for improvement on this nuisance, but it appears not…

      • Same—though I didn’t really post much to begin with.
        Less interested in the articles and comments these days…as well as the newer rules or moderation of posts.

  11. When the rest of the country refuses to be NY. Still have a while for our capacity limits to work their way through court and a few states / other circuits are farther along but this nonsense is hopefully on its last decade.

  12. I’ve “complied” in ILL annoy. Dunno why a 17 round handgun magazine is verboten but 15 is A-okay. Right now the ATF is grandstanding in Chiraq🙄😧

    • LOL yeah good for them, let me know when they go after the straw purchasers supplying the gangs while reporting their guns stolen in any relevant number.

      • Here in. Mn., a straw buyer that supplied her boyfriend-felon with the guns that killed 2 cops and a Fire Paramedic last month has been charged with the deed.
        In typical lib fashion, a go-fund-me has been set up for her benefit with 30 grand or so currently in it…. so tell us again how it’s The Guns

  13. “President Joe Biden and other gun-ban advocates like to tell Americans that firearms magazines that hold more than 10 rounds are “evil.””

    After all these years, Charles Krauthammer is still correct…

    “To understand the workings of American politics, you have to understand this fundamental law: Conservatives think liberals are stupid. Liberals think conservatives are evil.”

  16. If you live in a free state there’s really no reason why you shouldn’t have lost count of how many mags over 10 rounds you own.

    • Heh heh heh, the wife was gone all afternoon, so I actually took inventory… 52 over, 33 of 10 or less. But that is because I have a minimum of 4 mags for carry pistols, and a lot of AR mags
      (and I’m not really all that big of a fan of the AR system) which is somewhat countered by a lot of 10 22 and 1911 mags which artificially skew the totals. I’m thinking that alot of my fellow gun folk have much more impressive tallies.

  17. Blah Blah, That old wanker keeps up on that old horse. It’s in “Common Use”. Besides he’s being a Puppet to the Party anyway, it’s like a hand up his ass. Hope he doesn’t die soon so that bitch Kamala never gets to sit in that chair.

  18. believe in Florida it’s 5 center fire round limit for semi autos for deer. Bolts, lever, and pump don’t believe that there is a limit for center fire. Now hogs are another story on private property.

  19. So if he was able to enact some magazine ban, and the drug cartels start bringing high capacity magazines to sell to the gangs would Biden finally secure the southern border? Drugs, human trafficking was not enough but would high capacity magazines be?

    • Wait that isn’t the plan to simplify the supply chain for his constituents while keeping them out of the hands of dangerous wrong think types?

  20. Who cares about magazine bans? Ever since the internet became a thing, I haven’t bought a Playboy or Penthouse…

    …Oh, wait, what?…

  22. 10rds is so arbitrary. The left likes to say things like “guns don’t make you safe” or “the good guy with a gun is a myth,” yet the premise of the mag limits is that hopefully after dispatching 10 disposable people, during a mag change the unarmed people nearby could rush the perp and disarm him.

    That’s some real good logic to base policy and criminal punishments on. I have not seen the studies for successful mag change take downs to support this premise.

    • More bullets without a reload is a good thing.
      Ask 40 Cal Booger how fast your gunm runs dry when shtf.

  24. As usual, Comrade Biden has things bass ackwards. He wants us to stand with him. As a “servant” (don’t choke too much) of the people, he’s supposed to stand with us. His dementia evidently has caused him to forget that the powers of the general government are limited and restricted by the states or “We the People.” Not the Marxist elites.

    • His dimensia has caused alot of confusionfor ” im jill biden the president, i used to have a thingy that goes up, oh it’s a shampoo dispencer for showers with the grandkids. what’s todays icecream.

  27. So in Washington state the governor Jay Inslee and AG Bob Ferguson with Dems in the legislator passed an Assault weapon ban and high-capacity mag ban. Not one legislator republican rep voted for it.
    So, you cannot sell or buy an “assault weapon” or high cap mags in Wa. However, you can keep the assault rifles and mags you already own. WTF.
    A county Judge (Cowlitz county) already ruled that the high cap mag ban is unconstitutional. AG Bob Ferguson within 90 minutes, petitioned the WA supreme court for a stay on that ruling which was granted.
    Both the assault weapon ban and mag ban are both blatantly unconstitutional. This is currently tied up in the courts. So begs the question: Did the Governer and the AG along with dem legislators conspire to pass an unconstitutional law to violate WA citizens 2nd amendment rights?

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