High Capacity Magazines are the Killers

 
After the massacre in Tucson the left blamed prominent conservatives and talk show hosts. There was not an iota of evidence but they did their best to make conservatives responsible. This also removed responsibility from the actual murderer. That is how things usually work: if conservatives caused the insane murderer to kill, than he couldn't be responsible.
These accusations finally petered out, especially after it became known that the murderer was not only mentally disturbed but also a leftist and a Bush hater. But you can't let a good crisis go to waste and definitely can't make people responsible for their deeds. Both these progressive imperatives are well satisfied by a call for more gun control.
Since it is not feasible, for now, to introduce more gun control legislation, several members of Congress decided to try to prohibit high-capacity magazines. Representative Carolyne McCarthy (D-NY) brought up this proposal and others are trying to run with it. Her proposal defines a new villain: high-capacity magazines. It is obvious to that it was the crazy murderer's magazine that killed an injured all these people in Tucson. Jared Loughner had nothing to do with the murders.
The danger in this kind of thinking is that superficially it makes sense: only a murderer would need a hand gun magazine that holds more than 30 rounds. But if you think for a moment it is clear that limiting the capacity of magazines that are being sold legally will change nothing, except legitimize more government control.
Here are the reasons why:

1. Like everything else, if an item is restricted it doesn't mean it's unavailable. Just look at prohibited drugs, criminals buying guns, people driving with suspended licenses or no licenses at all.
2. High capacity magazines have the potential to make a murderer less effective. Sounds counter intuitive, but think: if a crazy killer has only 10 round magazines available he (or she) will choose a caliber that will make most of these 10 rounds. Why use 9mm? He could use .40cal or a .45cal. If he did that, Rep. Gifford would be dead. It was luck and the fact that Loughner used a 9mm round that saved her life. The same is probably true for some of the other survivors.
3. Another factor to consider is that a 34 round magazine makes the gun heavy, unbalanced and unwieldy. There is a reason law enforcement carry spare magazines but not these ridiculous high-capacity ones.
4. Which brings us to the next point: what is to prevent our crazy murderer from reloading? It is cumbersome to reload with a high-capacity magazine but with the normal 14-19 round ones or 10 round magazines reloading take only a couple of seconds.

So by banning "high-capacity" magazines we will do two things: shift the blame, again, to on inanimate object and do nothing to reduce the chances of a maniac killing lots of people. We may even increase the danger.

If the progressives really wanted to increase public safety they would promote gun ownership and concealed carry. After all one armed person in that crowd in Tucson could have stopped the murderer. He was, indeed, stopped by two men who wrestled him to the ground. One of those had a concealed carry permit and was armed. He said later that he would have shot the killer if the killer resisted or posed any further danger. A pity that this man was some distance away, in line at the grocery store and didn't arrive in time to save more lives