Mayor Bloomberg Backs Rep. McCarthy's High-Capacity Ammunition Ban

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is also the co-founder of the nationwide Mayors Against Illegal Guns, is supporting Rep. Carolyn McCarthy's (D-Mineola) ban on the sale or transfer of high-capacity ammunition magazines today.

Speaking at a MAIG announcement about other gun measures, such as strengthening the national background check database and closing the database’s “gun show loophole," Mayor Bloomberg said on his own behalf:

“Congress should get behind the bill introduced by Representative Carolyn McCarthy that would ban high-capacity ammunition magazines,” Mayor Bloomberg said.  “It’s really hard to find a rational reason for why extended magazines should be sold to the public at large.  It just makes it easier for a lunatic like Jared Loughner to kill people on a mass scale.”

Rep. McCarthy’s bill, which is being introduced in the Senate by Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) tomorrow, bans the sale or transfer of magazines holding more than 10 bullets.  It brings the nation to the same 10-round-maximum standard used in four other states today, as well as nationwide for a decade while the previous federal assault weapons ban was in effect.  It closes a gaping loophole in the previous ban in which magazines manufactured before the law went into effect could still be sold or transferred.

“Reducing gun violence in America will require a united effort on multiple fronts, and Michael Bloomberg and the Mayors Against Illegal Guns understand that,” Rep. McCarthy said today.  “Having written the law authorizing more spending for our national background check system, working to close the gun show loophole and introducing the bill to ban high-capacity magazines, I’m excited that Mayor Bloomberg is committed to advancing these three measures.  I commend Mayor Bloomberg and all of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns for their courage and leadership during this time that we so desperately need them.” 

The full language of the high-capacity magazine bill, HR308, is available on Rep. McCarthy’s homepage at http://carolynmccarthy.house.gov/.

Rep. McCarthy, who was first elected in 1996, began a career in activism to reduce gun violence after the 1993 incident in which deranged gunman Colin Ferguson opened fire in a crowded Long Island Railroad commuter train, using 15-round magazines to kill six including her husband and injure 19 including her son.  Like shooter Jared Loughner in Tucson, Ferguson was stopped by bystanders when he stopped shooting to reload – strengthening the case for smaller magazines holding less bullets.