This morning, I joined City Councilmember Paul Koretz, City Attorney Carmen Trutanich and LAPD Chief Charlie Beck to announce that the City of Los Angeles is officially supporting passage of H.R. 308 by Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY04), which would ban ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. These large capacity ammunition magazines were made illegal as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, commonly known as the federal assault weapons ban, but Congress failed to renew the ban when it expired in 2004. A large capacity ammunition magazine was used to carry out the recent shooting in Tucson, allowing the gunman to fire more than 30 bullets in 15 seconds.
Since the ban’s sunset in 2004, the Los Angeles Police Department’s Gun Unit has seen a significant increase in the number of large capacity ammunition magazines recovered. In 2004, the City recovered 725 large capacity ammunition magazines compared to 38 in 2003, a 1,808% increase.
We all pay a high price for the toll that gun violence takes on our communities. We want to make it as difficult as possible for criminals to have access to large capacity firepower, and we definitely don’t want to see our law enforcement officers outgunned by criminals.