Opinion: Why does anyone need 100 rounds of ammo?
Publisher’s note: This editorial is from the Aug. 5, 2012, Sacramento Bee.
We ought to be able to agree that no citizen has any need for 100-round magazines of the type that police say James E. Holmes used on the night of the movie theater massacre in Aurora, Colo.
But we can’t.
Holmes’ arsenal included a 100-round dual drum, a device that looks a little like mouse ears and affixes to an AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle of the type Holmes had purchased. An Internet retailer currently offers a deal, selling them for $139, a $20 discount.
In the wake of the shooting that left 12 dead and 58 people wounded, Democrats are renewing calls for a federal assault weapons ban, and limits on the capacity of magazines.
Operating on the theory that elections have consequences, The Bee surveyed most candidates and incumbents seeking Sacramento Valley congressional seats, and asked two questions: Do they support reinstating the assault weapons ban, and would they vote to prohibit the sale of 100-round drums?
The answers generally fell along party lines. Some candidates offered equivocal answers. Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove, failed to respond to calls and emails placed over a one-week period.
Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Gold River, and Ami Bera, a Democratic physician from Elk Grove, are in a tight campaign for the 7th Congressional District, which includes Elk Grove and much of eastern Sacramento County.
“Dr. Bera supports the assault weapons ban and especially in light of the recent tragedy in Aurora,” his campaign spokesman Josh Wolf said. Wolf said Bera also would vote to ban 100-round magazines.
Lungren offers a nuanced view of gun law compared with other Republicans in the area, and has broken with the National Rifle Association in notable areas.
“If you need 100-round clips, there are lots of things I would call you, but ‘sportsman’ or ‘hunter’ is not one of them.” Lungren said in an interview. “What do you need 100 rounds for?”
He didn’t say if he would vote for a federal assault weapons ban, but noted that there is no appetite for gun control legislation in Washington. As California attorney general in the 1990s, he was responsible for enforcing the state’s assault weapons law, which caused a rift with pro-gun organizations.
“California has decided what we’re doing. That’s it,” Lungren said. “We should enforce the laws we have.”
Rep. John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove, faces Colusa County Supervisor Kim Vann, a Republican, in the 3rd Congressional District, which includes Yolo, Glenn, Colusa and Yuba counties.
Vann’s campaign manager, Rob Stutzman, said Vann supports California’s law, including the assault weapons ban, but would oppose federal weapons legislation.
“She supports state regulation of firearms, not federal. She has a federalist view of state rights,” Stutzman said.
Garamendi voted for California’s first assault weapons ban when he was a state senator. He had represented Stockton in 1989 when a gunman using an assault weapon opened fire at an elementary school, killing five children.
“My support for such bans continues to this day,” Garamendi said in a statement.
Garamendi, like Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento, is among 113 co-sponsors of House legislation that seeks to ban magazines of more than 10 rounds.
Sen. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale, is running in the 1st Congressional District, which stretches from Auburn and Gridley to the Oregon border. He opposes laws that would ban assault weapons and continued sale of 100-round drums, his campaign manager, Dave Gilliard, said.
LaMalfa’s Democratic opponent, Jim Reed, a Redding attorney, opposes an assault weapons ban, but said he would support a ban on 100-round magazines.
McClintock is running in the 4th Congressional District, which includes Lincoln and Lake Tahoe, and runs south past Yosemite National Park. Although he did not respond to calls or emails, McClintock long has been a pro-gun vote.
Why does any one need a car that goes 130 miles an hour? Why does any one need a house that will sleep 20 people? Why does a family need 2 or three cars?
“Why does anyone need 100 rounds of ammo?”
Well, to help the bottom line of weapons and munitions manufacturing companies that pump millions of dollars to the NRA to spread their propaganda to the NRA faithful, of course!
Why do we need free speech or anything else guaranteed by the constitution? Why does anyone need grass when we are in a drought? Why do we have to kill billions of animals because we like flesh for dinner? If you don’t like the second amendment change it.
We always want to find a cause and ban it. If the man had burned down the theater there would be those who would want to ban matches. We live in a free country and we take the good with the bad. There will always be a method to cause mass murder. and it wont always be a 100 round magazine.
David your question is why does anyone need a house that sleeps 20 or a car that goes 130 or three cars per family. If the family has three drivers who need to get places at the same time, the answer is obvious. The answer to why does anyone need a car that goes 130 or a house that sleeps 20 is equally obvious..THEY DON’T, just like they don’t need 100 round clips.
Well then the answer is lets ban everything we think no one should have. But we live in a free country and i will defend your right to have any thing you can afford.
Instead of passing new laws, why don’t we get our legislatures to start eliminating all of them down to the basic 10 commandments. They seem to cover almost every situation.
David, there is a big canyon of acceptable options between everything and nothing.
But David is right. Who are you to say that someone else shouldn’t have something just because you think it’s unnecessary. Maybe somebody wants to go out shooting just for fun. We still have that right here in the USA. You don’t like to shoot? Fine, then don’t. I’m not trying to close down bicycle trails in the forest just because I don’t ride. But some people are trying to do that too.
Why don’t we allow each other the liberties our Constitution granted us instead of trying to micromanage each other in the name of “safety”? It’s a dangerous world out there. Hardly anybody gets out of it alive.
I do not know of a case where a gun has been convicted of murder. Or a case where a auto was convicted of a murder but they happen every day.
9:58 am:
” But I do recall many times hearing you libs lie about what conservatives actually say to further your own agendas”
10:04am:
” I’m not trying to close down bicycle trails in the forest just because I don’t ride. But some people are trying to do that too.”
Interesting.
The stock magazine for one of my pistols, the same one carried by US Secret Service Agents, is illegal in California. Will the State arrest these agents the next time they accompany the President to a fundraiser in CA?
What’s your point, fish? I’ve never advocated closing any trails. Ever. Are you saying I have? Or just making insinuations like Harry Reid does?
I really like shooting sports and tend to hang out with a gun toting crowd. I dont have a problem with banning 100 round magazines. I just dont think people off the street should have weapons that can fire 100 rounds in under a minute. Now they should be available to folks who go through the training and background checks. But that would be a much higher standard just like machine guns. But there are two problems here. First, I dont trust the anti-gun crowd. And just like hunting, if we give an inch they will take a mile. Me and a guy I shoot with were discussing it the other day. Its really a shame we have ended up where we are. But that is the nature of the political divide we have with no compromise allowed. The second issue is that the AR-15 and like rifles have become really great sport shooting platforms. I was at the range the other day and a woman was free-handing 1 inch groups at 200 yards with an AR-15. Her rifle probably cost on the order of $5000. She is clearly a very competative shooter. Way better shot than me and my buddy. So yes the AR-15 blurs that line between a sporting rifle and an assault rifle. I dont trust the anti-gun crowd to make that distinction.
Nobody ‘needs’ a 100 round magazine if they are hunters or sport shooters. The problem will always be that the criminals can, and do, obtain weapons, magazines and ammunition that the average, law-abiding citizen is not allowed to own.
Trying to blame the weapon for the destruction caused by a mentally unstable nut-case is just wrong.
Round and A Round we go! We Have people that reload rounds! Then we have corporations that are people that manufacture rounds! Then we have corporations that are people that sell rounds! Then we have people that reload and sell their reloads at gun shows.
I still have my two Beretta’s, Prima Fabbrica Italiana D’Armi, Founded in 1680
I recall the Dick Cheney when in congress voting NO to outlaw COP Killing Bullet’s.
title of article is misleading, it should read “why does anyone need a 100 round magazine?”
the simplest answer of course is, when one is being attacked by another person with a 100 round magazine, you silly!
was that a trick question?
Hey tahoeadvocate, What part of the Constitution do you bastardize to promote that treasonous 10 commandment-dominionist-fundagelical governance model?… DAVID DEWITT I can afford to buy the property right next to yours. I can also afford to make many crazy, dangerous changes that would threaten your well-being. You wouldn’t defend that now would you? And let’s not forget that the weapons of choice the founders had in mind when writing the 2nd amend. were one-shot muskets and flintlocks. And NO democrat is out to take your guns away!! Thats’ RNC non-stop gunsgodgaysbigotry political crap they sell because they have nothing else.
It is actually very mixed on what Democrats AND Republican lawmakers say, and do. They LIE about it, and say a Staffer filled out forms,…all sorts of other excuses. LOTS to all this. Here is a link, but you have spend some time here, to see what they said they said, what they really did say, and what they did, in Congress, for instance. Takes a good half-hour to go through at least.
What goes on behind the scenes in Congress is very messy. Few news people ever did into what you can read at this link. It is much easier to have 10 second sound-bites, and headlines, and not do any type of real coverage.
NOTE what the Supreme Court has ruled, particularly in 2008.
http://www.issues2000.org/Celeb/Democratic_Party_Gun_Control.htm
You can do the same sort of search for the Republican Party, and get a lot of the SAME lying, and other niceties.
Hey Robert, Save the false equivalency crap argument for someone who doesn’t know better. It’s like 90 scientists say one thing and 10 are paid to say another and so let’s give them equal time in a discussion. You can easily measure this difference more accurately, sans anecdotal spun evidence, by following the money.
Why? Because if the power grid ever goes down for a month or more you’ll need them shells for some meth head, drug addict trying to break into your home for whatever. That’s why. Simple. Whats politics have to do with it?
You’ll probably need those weapons for the blowhard rush fan next door who runs out of food too. You know, survival of the fittest and all Get real.
Dick, I think I have some pretty middle of the road views for a person who enjoys shooting sports. But reading what you write reinforces my decision to give the NRA money. By the way, the Supreme Court decides what the founding fathers had in mind when they wrote the Constitution; not you.
I went to the shooting range last Sunday with my new pistol
I fired 150 rounds thru my new gun
it sure was fun
Hey Chief, do you favor the Douglas range, or Carson? Or just the desert (personal favorite)
I meet great people at the Douglas range. I got to shoot an .40 XDM. .50 muzzle loader with a hunting sabot(wow, big bang), 77/22, oldschool Remington pump scope, just from talking to people.
Either way, check this thing out.
The Spinning Jack from Action Targets
http://www.actiontarget.com/store/review/product/list/id/201/category/14/
AR500 steel, its like a walking jack target with pins and a post.
My friend got one for $50 shipped. Should last a long time, even with .44mag.
Last week I hit it 10/10 3 times in a row at 50 yards with my 22 on iron sights, the paddles are 2″.
I want to get one of their 8″ gongs and take it out 100 yards.
It is more fun than bowling, and costs about the same if you shoot .22lr.
the Carson City shooting range it is part of the city park system
the best thing that I got to shoot was a Zombie Killer 338 wichester mag. fully automatic machine gun
it is amazing the different weapons that you will see at the range
What will the NRA and it’s supporters want next after 100 or 1000 round clips??? Personal NUKES?! This is insanity at a national level. BRING BACK THE ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN!