CINCINNATI (WKRC) - Should high-capacity magazines be banned so they can't be used in mass shootings like what happened in Uvalde, Texas?
The idea is not that banning high-capacity magazines (anything more than 10 or 15 rounds) would stop mass shootings. The hope is that it would at least limit the number of people killed when these attacks happen.
Tuesday, House Democrats unveiled a series of measures aimed at curbing gun violence, including banning the import, sale, manufacture and possession of large-capacity magazines.
Ben Cooper is an attorney representing several families of victims of the 2019 Dayton mass shooting who are suing the manufacturer of the magazine the attacker used.
"A gunman was able to kill so many people in around 30 seconds because he had a 100-round magazine," Cooper said.
Cooper says there's no need for a magazine that large.
"The only thing that that those can truly be used for are for war, and that's essentially what he turned the Oregon District into was a war zone," Cooper said.
He says they should be banned outright, but he knows even if they were and they all disappeared, he knows that wouldn't solve the mass shooting problem.
“I think it would prevent the number of casualties that occur, the number of people that are able to be murdered by the shooters because just take the Dayton [shooting], for example. Police responded very quickly to the shooting. I mean, they were there very quickly after the shooting started, and, yet, he was still able to kill so many people because he could get off so many shots in a very short period of time,” Cooper said.
Joe Eaton with Buckeye Firearms Association agrees something needs to be done to stop these attackers, but he says banning high-capacity magazines won't have an impact.
“We hear calls for these type of restrictions and other ones after every time, after one of these horrific events, but our past history is shown that they really make no difference,” Eaton said.
He points to the federal assault weapons ban from 1994 to 2004.
“We had the federal assault weapons ban for over 10 years, which included a restriction on magazine capacities, and we had one of the first and most horrific school shootings, Columbine, during that period of time. The state of New York has severe magazine restrictions, and, yet, in Buffalo, we just saw that that does not stop criminals who are already breaking laws. Another law is not going to impact them any at all," Eaton said.
CBS reports the House Judiciary Committee will consider the eight pieces of gun control legislation, known as the "Protecting Our Kids Act" and could be voted on by the full House next week.