Understanding the Need for High Capacity Magazines
Rob PincusDescription
Math lesson! How much ammunition do you need for personal or home defense? It’s a hot topic today. Rob Pincus has the stats at hand and runs the numbers to illustrate that the logical need for high capacity magazines is a reality and is something we should be prepared for.
There's been a lot of talk about how much ammunition you really need for personal or home defense. And of course, one of the things that people are talking about is the concept of a high capacity magazine. Now, the high capacity magazine is something that came into the conversation, really, in the 1990s, when we had the federal assault weapons ban in 1990s, there was a distinguishing between high capacity magazines, which held more than 10 rounds and low capacity magazines. Now, the terminology really has been switched to standard capacity. So we're now talking about the idea that ammunition that we're gonna use inside of a fight is going to be X number of rounds and we want our standard capacity to be more than the rounds that we're going to need. So when we talk about standard capacity magazines, we know that ammunition needs inside of personal defense. Well, what we normally train for inside of the combat focus shooting program is, a multiple round string of fire. If we think about how many rounds we're going to need, we tell people to plan on shooting between two and five rounds. Now, of course there are such a thing as occasional one-shot stops. There are such a thing as psychological stops where people are shot at and even missed and yet they still stop attacking and they run away. But when we have two to five rounds going at or into a bad guy to stop them physiologically, we can see very quickly that if we have multiple attackers and we know that thieves do work in groups, we know that multiple person violent home invasions are becoming more and more common, we can see where we would need a certain number of rounds very quickly and in a worst case scenario. So the idea that we're gonna limit ourselves to seven rounds in at least one State now, that many States have talked about 10 or 15 round magazine ban capacities. We talked about the idea that on a federal level, we used to have a 10 round limit. We can see that just two bad guys, take us to that limit. Now, Tom Givens, of course, has done a lot of research on how many rounds have been fired, at what distance, under what circumstances in actual personal defense cases, the very distinct group of information from law enforcement or military type shootings. When we look at his information, he gives a presentation called lessons from the street and when he highlights the certain ones that really represent the whole, he shows those eight, 10, 12 different scenarios and one of the things that he said at one of the presentations I was at, was the average number of rounds fired was 4.7, but he quickly points out that in no specific instance was 4.7 rounds actually fired. And of course, what he's trying to say is, we can't predict how many rounds it will take but if we go to the high end of our normal two to five rounds string of fire, we think about five rounds, just two attackers equals a potential for 10 rounds. Now, if we need 10 rounds for just two attackers, we have no misses, we don't have any malfunctions. We don't have any problem with the gun whatsoever. We now have an empty gun, if we get two, three attackers or four attackers or five attackers and if they're maybe a little bit tougher or if our shooting isn't quite as good as it needs to be and we start thinking about going beyond that five rounds, we can quickly see where one 30 round magazine, the kind of magazine that people would put into a semi-automatic rifle for home defense, might not even be enough. If we just go to six rounds per person and we have multiple threats inside of the home while these situations are very rare, we could actually need more than that 30 rounds and very easily and very quickly, we see how we could go beyond a limit of seven rounds, 10 rounds or even 15 rounds, as have been implemented in some areas. Now, the fact is, that these situations are incredibly rare in the United States. It's very, very unlikely that you're ever going to need to use a firearm to defend yourself at all. It's certainly unlikely that you're going to need more than that two to five rounds, but in America, we do have the right, and really, the responsibility to be prepared for that situation. If you choose to be prepared for that situation with a firearm, you also should have the option of meeting the need for a high number of rounds inside of your firearm. You shouldn't be restricted from that, simply because the idea is, well, you probably won't need it. Of course, we probably won't need the firearm at all. The other important thing to consider here is that the accident, the thing that we are most worried about with a firearm, not the evil person, that also is incredibly rare, not the group of evil people using these high capacity, standard capacity, whatever you want to call it, magazines but really the accident, that accident happens with one bullet, the negligence, the unsecured firearm, the mentally ill person, the suicide because someone is desperate to do something and they have access to a firearm. All of these things that we hear about being dangerous as far as firearms just merely existing, those things happen with one round and certainly we understand that it's the slippery slope that tells us we don't need 30, we don't need 15, we don't need 10, we don't need seven, well, maybe we don't need any at all and that's something that we really need to fight against. One of the ways we can fight against it, is by simply understanding that the logical need for a large number of rounds inside of a defensive firearms is a reality and it's something we should be prepared for.
Good video!
Unfortunately, I live in California, where 10 rounds is the max. My way around it? At this time, the Mag Magnet is perfectly legal to get around the ridiculous 'bullet button requirement'here in liberal Cali. But IF you are living in Cali., please be aware that the Mag Magnet CANNOT be placed on top of the bullet button UNTIL it is needed to be used OR it is considered a Federal offense(deemed an assault rifle!). Thus, I put the magnet on top of the barrel until needed(IF needed God forbid). And trust me, that magnet holds on strong, even with my .308 rifle! My other way around this? I have multiple guns fully loaded in my bedroom(my safe haven room) with multiple mags near them, which is perfectly legal. Once I leave my home, these guns are safely locked up in a gun safe(which is upstairs and weighs over 400lbs. Any thieves had best be top level power lifters. :P Anyways, something to think about if you live in a gun-restrictive state such as mine(And I can retire in 4 yrs. and yes, I WILL be moving to a gun-friendly state soon after!)
Remember what happened after Hurricane Katrina? The riots after Rodney King's assailants were acquitted? Yeah, those AK and AR rifles that people used to defend themselves came in really handy then and they will again...
Lets remember what the 2nd amendment was written for. This the true point politicians want to ignore....not personal defense. Though it is a great and wonderful attribute that comes with the 2nd amendment but not its true intent.... I don't think I have to go into detail of the 2nd amendments true intention most of you know it, but we get side tracked by these topics and others. To a certain extent I believe these issues are also intended to created division among fire arm enthusiast, shooters and instructors. There should be NO limitations to the amount of ammo one feels is necessary. Home land security doesn't see a need to limit themselves why should we ? The IRS feels the need to carry, I still dont get that one ? a tax collector needs a gun ? Thats what the police, FBI, DOJ are for
Mr. Pincus speaks rationally and logically however liberal state legislators have a demonstrated low capacity when it comes to logic.
Good explanation, Rob. So simple, a liberal could understand it. Wait, did I just type that? My bad.
i say carry as much ammo as you care to.
Very well done!! Thanks for your very logical approach,
Nicely argued.
You're making too much sense Mr. Pincus. We'll have none of that in this county! Seriously would you please go in front of the Congress and explain this. But don't mention the "one is too many" they will quote you and run that video clip over and over. Great ideas as always.