Reply #6: Old ones were still in circulation and were unaffected by the federal ban

[krispos42]

It only applied to new-manufacture magazines.

:shrug:

If the ban was still in effect, it would have cost a few dollars more to purchase a designed-capacity magazine (15 rounds for his particular gun) or a larger-capacity one, due to market forces. The 31-round magazine he was using was actually designed for the rare, fully-automatic Glock Model 18 pistol. It protrudes significantly (and awkwardly) from the pistol grip, which is why they are not seen often.

Or maybe he just would have used a sawed-off shotgun loaded with buckshot, spraying a dozen 8mm pellets with every pull of the trigger. Your standard Remington 870 holds 5 shots and can be cut down pretty damn short with a hacksaw; that's 60 pellets total. If one is feeling really macho and chooses the 15-pellet high-brass loads, you can increase that to 75 pellets before reloading. The recoil is a bitch, though.


Keep in mind that the background check requirements passed by Congress at the same time as the AWB did NOT expire and are still in full effect.