Supervisor Malia Cohen is the city official sponsoring the magazine ban.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an ordinance that places a confiscatory ban on magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammo on Oct. 29.
Those who are in possession of the high-capacity magazines or high-capacity ammunition feeding devices will have 90 days to turn them over to police, sell them out-of-state or render them permanently inoperable. Failure to do so will result in misdemeanor charges.
“While not a panacea, this legislation provides law enforcement with more tools to continue to address gun violence and also continues to strengthen our city’s strong stance on gun regulation,” the bill’s sponsor, Supervisor Malia Cohen, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
In 2000, the state legislature placed a ban on the sale, transport, import or purchase of magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds, but gun owners who purchased 10-plus round magazines before the enactment of the state ban were grandfathered in.
For residents of San Francisco, that no longer holds true unless you qualify for the exemption, i.e. you’re a law enforcement officer, an armored car driver, a museum curator or a Hollywood movie/television producer (these magazines can be “used as props”), according to the law.
I'm not sure if I understand what people who own handguns that come with larger-than-10-round magazines are supposed to do. Can a Glock 17 magazine or a Glock 19 magazine be simply replaced with a 10-round mag?
You mean what are they supposed to do about an order that your side keeps swearing will never come?
ReplyDeleteThere are 10 round Glock magazines on the market. They started being made in ‘94 to comply with the Federal AWB, and they continue to be made for the California and other markets. When NY passed the un-SAFE law- that was another story. There is no Glock 7rd magazine (and true for most other models).
ReplyDeleteThe thing is if you have a first gen Glock, the newer generation magazines don’t fit quite right. It works, but it doesn’t seat properly and leaves a gap, possibly increasing the failure rate as well. The original magazines are currently irreplaceable in California, and they just passed a law saying you can’t buy a new part for it if it breaks. On top of that, if you live in San Francisco, they are turning you into a criminal if you keep it. The big issue here is how promises and grandfather clauses don’t mean spit to your side. You guys look for every opportunity to confiscate and thrown the cuffs on.
Additionally, how dumb is the Board of Supervisors to not understand that this is a violation of State preemption laws? It was just eight years ago when SF’s total gun ban got slapped down citing State preemption, and it cost them over a million dollars. Short memories.
TS, thanks for your input on this. I wasn't sure how well the preemption was enforced out in the land of the beautiful people.
DeleteNot nearly well enough. This will probably be on the books for years and take an arrest of the right person willing and with the means to fight it before it gets overturned. Berkeley had an illegal gun ban in place for over a decade before it was challenged post Heller. Heller provided momentum, but it was challenged on state preemption laws, not 2A. San Francisco’s complete ban on guns (with confiscation of registered handguns) got overturned before it even went into effect, but that’s because it was so extreme.
DeleteHow about those extra-long magazines that extend far below the handle of the gun? Do they seat right?
DeleteNo, they don’t tend to seat right. That’s what makes them unreliable, as we saw when the Tucson shooter had a jam.
DeleteIn most states, I would say it isn't going to work because there is a state preemption law in place. This being California though, all bets are off.
ReplyDeleteThere are 10 round Glock mags out there for sale. I find it ironic that they always provide exemptions for the police and others.
California actually has a peemption law. Shocking, I know. That's the only thing keeping San Francisco, Oakland, and LA from being worse than DC and Chicago.
DeleteMikeb, I'm curious. Are you aware that the 17 and 19 in the names of those pistols do not refer to magazine capacity? Glock's first pistol design was his seventeenth patent, thus the name. The Glock model numbers have no discernable rhyme or reason to them.
ReplyDeleteNo, I didn't know that.
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