The Los Angeles City Council has unanimously voted (with three members in absentia) to ban firearm magazines with a capacity of more than 10 bullets.
The legislation carves out a number of exempt groups, including police and individuals who purchased guns before January 1, 2000 that can only be used with such magazines. In addition, the council will vote on a proposed amendment to allow certain retired police officers exemptions.
While the National Rifle Association and other gun rights groups have threatened to sue the city, the bill’s authors based their legislation on similar bills in San Francisco and Sunnyvale that have withstood legal challenges.
The move is a firm, if rare, attempt to impose more gun control in a national climate that has seen very little action since the shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut and the more recent shooting at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina.
Do you agree with the city council’s vote to ban high capacity magazines? Will the ban be effective in reducing gun deaths in the city of Los Angeles? What effect will this have on the national debate between gun rights and gun control?
Click here for more on this story and to read the actual bill
Guests:
Sam Paredes, executive director of the advocacy organization, Gun Owners of California
Juliet Leftwich, legal director, Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence based in San Francisco