Constitutional Law - Large-Capacity Magazine Bans and the Second Amendment
![handle is hein.journals/ualr44 and id is 475 raw text is: CONSTITUTIONAL LAW-LARGE-CAPACITY MAGAZINE BANS AND THE
SECOND AMENDMENT
I. INTRODUCTION
After taking office in 2021, President Biden and the Democratic majority
in Congress announced their intention to pursue a national prohibition on fire-
arm magazines holding more than ten rounds, renewing the debate on this
controversial firearm component' While there was once a temporary ban on
the manufacture and import of such magazines from 1994-2004, a total na-
tionwide ban on their mere possession would be unprecedented.2 However,
four states and the District of Columbia have taken this radical step of total
prohibition.' Prohibitions like these, though well-intentioned, seriously impli-
cate fundamental rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment.4
In District of Columbia v. Heller (hereinafter Heller 1), the Supreme
Court of the United States confirmed that the Second Amendment protects an
1. See, e.g., Statement by the President Three Years After the Parkland Shooting, THE
WHITE HOUSE BRIEFING RooM (Feb. 14, 2021), https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-
room/statements-releases/2021/02/14/statement-by-the-president-three-years-after-the-park-
land-shooting/ (Today, I am calling on Congress to enact commonsense gun law reforms,
including . .. banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines ... [.]); see also Menen-
dez, Deutch Renew Push to Ban High-Capacity Gun Magazines, SENATOR BOB MENENDEZ
(Apr. 14, 2021), https://www.menendez.senate.gov/newsroom/press/menendez-deutch-renew-
push-to-ban-high-capacity-gun-magazines (U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Con-
gressman Ted Deutch (D-Fla.-22) today reintroduced the Keep Americans Safe Act, renewing
a concerted effort to ban the importation, sale, manufacturing, transfer, or possession of gun
magazines that hold more than ten rounds of ammunition.).
2. Elke C. Meeus, Note, The Second Amendment in Need of a Shot in the Arm: Over-
hauling the Courts' Standards of Scrutiny, 45 W. ST. L. REv. 29, 34 (2017).
3. Large Capacity Magazines, GIFFORDs LAW CTR., https://giffords.org/lawcenter/gun-
laws/policy-areas/hardware-ammunition/large-capacity-magazines/ (last visited Mar. 19,
2021). California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New
York, Vermont, and D.C. ban possession of new large capacity magazines, while only New
York, New Jersey, Hawaii, and D.C. declined to grandfather magazines purchased before
the ban was enacted. Id. California's law revoking the legal status of previously grandfa-
thered magazines is stayed pending the outcome of Duncan v. Becerra. Id.; see also Duncan
v. Becerra, 265 F. Supp. 3d 1106 (S.D. Cal. June 29, 2017); Duncan v. Bonta, 2021 U.S. App.
LEXIS 37558 (9th Cir. 2021).
4. See U.S. CONST. amend. II; Duncan v. Becerra, 970 F.3d 1133, 1156 (9th Cir. 2020),
vacated, 988 F.3d 1209 (9th Cir. 2021) (California['s magazine ban] substantially burdens
core Second Amendment rights ....).
451](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/ualr44&div=23&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Constitutional Law - Large-Capacity Magazine Bans and the Second Amendment
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most