Write A Letter, Get An Answer

The Dema assault on gun owners continues apace with, among other things, a ban on standard capacity magazines. So I write to the bills sponsors, Fields and Hodge:
Dear Sen Hodge:

Noting your sponsorship of a ban on "high capacity" magazines as a means to reduce gun violence, sober minds must remember that magazine limitations won't save unarmed people, especially when dealing with large groups of people in places where they are legally disarmed--settings such as elementary schools, college campuses, etc.

My question  is how exactly is this to be enforced?

Experts estimate that as many as 40 million standard-capacity magazines may be in circulation today in the US, none of which have ever been serialized.

Colorado has 5.187M people in it and the U.S. as a whole, 313.914M so we probably have some 660,000 of these magazines in circulation. That's about $11.2M worth at the normal retail price of about $17/each.

So will there be a buy-back? Will the state pay original purchase prices or current market value which is now around $45? Note also that these numbers are for rifle magazines only and do not include pistol magazines, nearly all of which hold more than 10 rounds.

Regards
Billll

Back comes the answer:

Dear Billll,

The gun safety plan introduced Tuesday strikes a balance between securing our neighborhoods and protecting the right to bear arms.  High-capacity magazines allow a gunman to fire a large number of rounds quickly without having to reload. The standard basic ammunition load for an American soldier fighting in Iraq was includes a 30 round magazine. The Aurora shooter used a drum with more than three times the rounds of an American soldier. 

HB13-1224, The High-Capacity Ammunition Magazines Act, which I am sponsoring in the Senate, would ban the sale, transfer and onwership of all new ammunition feeding devices (magazines, strips, and drums) capable of accepting more than 10 rounds after the enactment date of the bill.  It would prohibit the sale or transfer of large-capacity ammunition feeding devices lawfully possessed on the date of the enactment of the bill.  Penalties for noncompliance would be a fine of up to $1,000 and 12 months in jail. Manufacturers of high-capacity magazines will have to include a serial number.

The bill will not eliminate all high-capacity magazines, but it will at least stop the flow of these feeding devices in Colorado.  Thanks again for contacting me and sharing your input.If you have any further concerns, please feel free to contact my office.

Sincerely,

Senator Mary Hodge

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First the admission that 30 rounds is a standard capacity magazine. Then the note about the 100 round job used in Aurora, a first nationally I believe.

The bill would make ownership of a 30 round mag illegal after the date of bill passage, but would prohibit the sale or transfer of any you legally owned prior to the passage of the bill. So your 30 round mags, at a current value of $45/ea become an arrestable offense with no compensation. I suppose you would be expected to crush them yourself. No compensation for the taking.

Notwithstanding that it would be illegal to use, possess or sell 30 rounders in Colorado, manufacturers would be required to serialize them anyway.  

I also do not see an exemption for the agents of the government. :-)

If engineers built bridges the way legislators wrote laws, the U.S. would end at the first creek west of Plymouth Rock.



Update: The bill is available here. The exemption for agents of the state is included, and you can keep the mags you've got. If you say you've had them since before any ban, that's fine and it's the prosecutors job to prove otherwise. Now let's have some fun.