Posted: | January 22, 2015 08:54 AM |
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From: | Representative Kevin J. Boyle |
To: | All House members |
Subject: | Large Capacity Ammunition Magazines |
In the near future, I will be re-introducing legislation – House Bill 1479 – to prohibit the sale, offering and exposing for sale, use, purchase, possession and control of a large capacity ammunition magazine – which is defined as an automatic ammunition feeding device capable of accepting more than 15 rounds of ammunition or 5 shotgun shells. My legislation will include 12 exceptions to the prohibition on large capacity ammunition magazines. Those exceptions include:
I believe this legislation is reasonable and necessary, as it is illegal to use a large capacity ammunition magazine to hunt in Pennsylvania, and tragically because these magazines have bee frequently used in horrendous mass shootings – including those that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newton, Connecticut; in Tucson, Arizona; at Columbine High School, Virginia Tech, and Fort Hood, Texas. In some cases, large capacity ammunition magazines can hold up to 100 rounds of ammunition. While typically associated with machine guns or semiautomatic assault weapons, large capacity ammunition magazines can often be used in any semiautomatic firearm that accepts a detachable magazine. Because of their ability to hold so many rounds of ammunition, large capacity ammunition magazines significantly increase the lethality of the automatic and semi-automatic firearms using them. My legislation would allow Pennsylvania to follow the lead of other states such as California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York that have limited the amount of ammunition in firearm magazine clips. Please join me in co-sponsoring this very important legislation. |
Introduced as HB1368