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House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: April 5, 2013 02:46 PM
From: Representative Kevin J. Boyle and Rep. Madeleine Dean
To: All House members
Subject: Large Capacity Ammunition Magazine Legislation
 

After further research and discussions with experts and members, we have made some changes to our proposed legislation to limit the size of large capacity magazines. Notably, we have amended the definition of a large capacity magazine to be more than 15 rounds, increased from the original 10 rounds. We believe the new version of this legislation provides sensible and reasonable regulation of large capacity ammunition.

Thus, in the near future we will be introducing legislation that amends Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes 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.

Our legislation will include 12 exceptions to the prohibition on large capacity ammunition magazines. Those exceptions include:
  1. Large capacity ammunition magazines legally possessed prior to the effective date of the bill
  2. Government officers, i.e., military, police, National Guard, etc.
  3. Museum collections
  4. Delivery of a large capacity ammunition magazine to law enforcement after its discovery;
  5. Firearm dealers who obtain a permit from the Attorney General selling to individuals permitted to possess a large capacity ammunition magazine
  6. Manufacturers who obtain a permit from the Attorney General
  7. An armored vehicle business that obtains a permit from the Attorney General, and its employees, for purposes of the armored vehicle business
  8. A private forensic laboratory that obtains a permit from the Attorney General, and its employees, for purposes of forensic activities of the laboratory
  9. Gunsmiths who obtain a permit from the Attorney General for purposes of maintenance, repair or modification of the large capacity ammunition magazine
  10. A motion picture or television production that obtains a permit from the Attorney General, and its agents and employees, to use a large capacity ammunition magazine as a prop
  11. Shooting ranges that obtain a permit from the Attorney General
  12. Members and patrons at shooting ranges

Large capacity ammunition magazines are a relatively new phenomenon. Prior to the 1980s, the most popular handgun design was the revolver. However, during the 80s, the firearms industry shifted design and marketing toward high-capacity semiautomatic pistols. In 1980, semiautomatic pistols accounted for only 32 percent of the 2.3 million handguns produced in America. By 1991, however, such pistols accounted for 74 percent of the 1.8 million handguns produced that year.

We 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. Although detachable large capacity ammunition magazines are typically associated with machine guns or semi-automatic assault weapons, such devices are generally available for any semi-automatic 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.

Our 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 us in co-sponsoring this very important legislation.



Introduced as HB1479