Maryland: Criminal Use of ‘High Capacity’ Magazines Up Following Ban on Sales
Maryland banned the sale and manufacture of “high capacity” magazines in 2013, and criminal use of such magazines is now at a seven-year high. The ban was contained in the Firearm Safety Act of 2013. Law enforcement figures gathered by The Trace, a gun control journalism outlet, show that the criminal use of “high capacity” magazines jumped in 2013 and continued to climb in 2014, 2015, and 2016. In other words, when Democrats barred law-abiding citizens from buying the magazines, criminals took greater advantage of the added firepower. According to The Trace, “Baltimore police say larger magazines have surged in popularity among criminals.” Baltimore Police spokesman T.J. Smith said, “We’re dealing with absolute criminals who want as much weaponry as possible when they’re going after their targets. They’re not carrying .22s. They’re carrying the big guns that have these high capacities”: 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
March 27, 2017 at 03:00PM
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