Like most law abiding firearms owners, I resent the hi-cap ban, because it is so utterly stupid, affects only the law abiding, does nothing to reduce crime or make the U.S.A. any safer, and because those who got it passed act like they've done society such a great favor. What self-serving political ?#!%&@!!
That being said, if my handgun comes with pre-ban magazines which hold more than 10 rounds, I'll use them if I want to, AND I'll load as many rounds in them as I want to, up to their capacity, because that is what they were designed for, and they are legal. If my gun comes with ten-rounders, I don't really feel a pressing need to go out and spend a hundred dollars apiece for hi-caps, because I think the chances of the average citizen ever needing that many rounds are slim to none. If I really felt that I was going into a situation where I might need many rounds, and I couldn't get or afford high capacity magazines, I'd just buy and carry more ten round magazines until I felt I had enough. Like many of you folks here, I've had combat handgun training, and I can keep feeding ten round magazines until I run out of them or the barrel melts, whichever comes first
. For that matter I can pretty much use a revolver with speedloaders the same way...despite lawmakers' best efforts to reduce my ability to defend myself.
It also gives me heartburn that I recently had a conversation with a PA local police officer who believes it is illegal for anyone other than a police officer to load more than 13 rounds in ANY magazine in this state. He indicated that he would arrest anyone (other than a policeman) whom he found with a ANY magazine loaded with more than 13 rounds, and that pre-ban or license to carry didn't make any difference. He said he THOUGHT it was even illegal to load up more than 13 rounds on a range. I asked him politely to cite the statute, and I'm still waiting. It's been a couple of weeks now. (I had a thread going on this subject). Encounters like the one I had with this local officer are almost enough to make me just go back to carring revolvers and speeloaders, just so I wouldn't have to deal with or worry about dealing with getting arrested for a non-crime. He made me feel like a common criminal, which I am not, and to be honest, he scared me.
Sorry, am I ranting? It's just that, even though I don't think it is likely that I would ever need more than a few rounds in a self-defense encounter, and therefore personally feel no great need to carry hi-caps, I don't like being told I CAN'T have them. The hi-cap ban just 'frosts my but-tocks' because it is one more little chip out of our civil rights.
I do not intend to offend anyone. This is just one issue I feel strongly about, because it is a matter of principle.
-10CFR
[This message has been edited by 10CFR (edited September 27, 2000).]
