You may not care, or you may not be impacted by the large capacity issue. In the great majority of the good ole USA there is no large capacity feeding device (magazine) issue, and therefore the is no such thing as a large capacity weapon. The whole large capacity weapon/large capacity feeding device was part of the original 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban (AWB). Before going any further, I have to say this: According the FBI, the number of rounds in the magazine, whether 10 rounds or 50, etc. has no real impact on the level of injuries or deaths when guns are used by criminals or other nefarious deeds are done by evil people.
For the record – The term assault weapon was created (made up) by anit-2A forces who were determined to get some form of gun control (anything) through Congress during the Clinton administration. The term does not exist in any form of actual firearms, civilian or military, lexicon. It was invented for anti-2A purposes. An assault weapon can be a rifle, shotgun or pistol. For example, a rifle became an assault weapon by virtue of it having two or more cosmetic features. (Note, if the rifle does not have the features, it is ok to have and is called a post-ban AR15 or AK or whatever it is.) It has nothing to do with the lethality of the gun, just how it looks. In the original AWB, there were a lot of guns which were specifically listed as assault weapons and therefore became illegal to possess after the law’s enactment date of 13 September 1994. This was a bad law and Congress knew it, so a 10 year sunset provision was included in the law, and it was not reenacted in 2004 so it dropped from the federal books. Unfortunately for those poor repressed people in a handful of states where the anti-2A legislators adopted the federal AWB into their own state laws, the AWB still exists and haunts good law-abiding gun owners, limiting their civil rights. – Reminder – This has no impact on criminals, who, by definition, don’t care about laws or law enforcement who are exempt from the law.
The limiting of magazines to 10 rounds was included in the AWB. Greater than 10 rounds and the magazine was large capacity and instantly illegal. The AWB did grandfather all weapons and large capacity feeding devices, so anything, guns and magazines, in use prior to 13 September 1994 remained legal and became known as pre-ban.
Then on 14 September 2004, the federal AWB disappeared and there was happiness in the land. Well, expect for less than ten states which kept their own AWB, a partial AWB and/or a large capacity magazine ban. This is serious stuff. In the People’s Republic of Massachusetts, in 2016, the Attorney General of the state, independently decided to change how the AWB was interpreted after 20 plus years, and, with only a couple of days notice, made it illegal to transfer a post-ban AR15 because they are all copies of the original Colt rifle. And yes, the Attorney General of Massachusetts would be happy to lock up any law-abiding citizen who possesses one of these horrible guns. By the way, the Massachusetts punishment for the possession of a post-ban large capacity magazine (not a gun, just a magazine) is one to ten years in jail and a fine of $1,000 to $10,000. The second magazine will get you 5 to 15 years in lockup and a $5,000 to $15,000 fine. Welcome to the Bay State.
Believe it or not, like background checks, the idea for limited magazines apparently came from the gun industry. According to Wikipedia, it seems that, during the late 1980’s when Congress was considering a gun ban, William B. Ruger (You know the company he founded – Sturm, Ruger & Co. I personally like the guns they make.) suggested that it would be more effective to limit the number of rounds in a magazine rather than eliminate the guns. Also, according to Wikipedia, he even said something like; no honest person needs more than 10 rounds in a gun. Interesting, that at a time when Congress was trying to ban guns, which are Ruger’s business, the founder of the company tries to change the discussion to magazines. More interesting is that the federal AWB specifically included the Ruger Mini-30 in the list of assault weapons. Looks like the plan backfired and we got both the AWB and a large capacity magazine ban. Insult added to injury.
Yes, yes, yes, this has all been fascinating, but why do you care? Well, in most states where freedom and civil rights mean something, you have no reason to be concerned unless, that is, Congress and the current president manage to get more bad laws passed, either individually or stuck onto other really important bills like the defense appropriations as is currently being attempted with universal background checks. A certain political party, which will remain unmentioned (I do not talk politics except at holiday dinners with family when certainly no one will take offense) would love to pass extreme, take your guns away laws. I know that that is a radical, paranoid statement but that does not mean it is not the truth. I may be a bit feeble, but I remember someone saying something like “Hell yes we will take them away” during the Democratic primaries. So, if they get their way, you can expect that new federal laws will be proposed to establish a new, even more encompassing AWB with magazine limits of ten rounds. Then, it won’t be just the folks in Massachusetts and about 8 other states that will be getting their 2A rights smashed.
So, in the original draft of this article, I got quite preachy at this point with a tirade about losing our rights and the “divide and conquer” techniques that anti-2A forces use, along with disinformation to chisel away at our rights to, piece by piece, reshape the Second Amendment into a statue which looks like European or New Zealand or Australian, gun laws. I am not going to do that here, after all, Thanksgiving is only a month away and I can save it for my family dinner. So, I have struck that stuff.
If you are a Massachusetts resident with a License to Carry (LTC) you may have a firearm or two or perhaps ten that qualify as large capacity weapons. There are two conditions under which a gun can be a large capacity weapon. The first is simple, it is on the “Large Capacity Roster”. Yep, a special listing of guns which are defined by Massachusetts General Law (MGL) as large capacity. That roster can be viewed/downloaded here: https://www.mass.gov/doc/large-capacity-firearms-roster/download.
The second method of creating a large capacity weapon is to have a large capacity feeding device (i.e., a greater than ten round magazine) attached. Thus, a gun can have a ten round magazine say a Glock 17 and be a regular, everyday gun, but morph into a large capacity weapon as soon as you insert that 15-round magazine into it. The same goes for your AR15 which is a regular rifle with a ten round magazine but turns into a super dangerous large capacity weapon when the 30-round magazine is engaged.
As a practical matter what’s the deal? Provided that you can legally possess the greater than ten round magazines in Massachusetts, it does not have to be a big deal but the law (and we follow the law) makes it a big deal if you don’t follow the rules. First, let us be sure that we can legally possess the large capacity feeding device. If it was manufactured after 13 September 2004, it is illegal to possess in Massachusetts (and a handful of other states). [Remember the Assault Weapons Ban mentioned above.] Therefore, if the magazine is old, pre-ban, you can legally possess it. Now you have a legal large capacity weapon.
The requirements for transporting are different for a large capacity weapon than a regular rifle or shotgun. In Massachusetts, a large capacity weapon (rifle, shotgun or pistol) must be unloaded and stored in a locked compartment or in a locked case during transport. That is unless it is a handgun and the LTC holder has the gun under his/her direct control. An everyday (read non-large capacity) rifle or shotgun just needs to be unloaded and in a case for transport. Without getting into the significant confusion regarding the transportation of handguns, I will just say be conservative and, unless you have an LTC and it is under your direct control, treat it like a large capacity weapon and transport it unloaded in a locked compartment or case.
I have beaten the large capacity weapon/feeding device topic into submission. Let’s have a couple of final semi-off topic points. ● FBI statistics have shown that magazines with greater than to rounds don’t impact gunfights or criminal activities. ● You might be able to argue that they may have an impact in mass shootings, however I would counter said argument with my ½ second magazine change. ● The assault weapons ban is absurd! It accomplishes nothing except to make it harder, more expensive and/or impossible for law abiding citizens to exercise their inalienable rights to the possession and bearing of firearms. ● Since more people are murdered with fists than long guns, banning any type of rifle is counter intuitive (read as idiotic). ● The AR15 platform is really easy to shoot and is just so much fun.
Be Safe, Be Legal