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78 Alb. L. Rev. 849 (2014-2015)
The History of Firearm Magazines and Magazine Prohibitions

handle is hein.journals/albany78 and id is 861 raw text is: THE HISTORY OF FIREARM MAGAZINES AND MAGAZINE PROHIBITIONS David B. Kopel* I. INTRODUCTION In recent years, the prohibition of firearms magazines has become an important topic of law and policy debate. This article details the history of magazines and of magazine prohibition. The article then applies the historical facts to the methodologies of leading cases that have looked to history to analyze the constitutionality of gun control laws. Because ten rounds is an oft-proposed figure for magazine bans, Part II of the article provides the story of such magazines from the sixteenth century onward. Although some people think that multi- shot guns did not appear until Samuel Colt invented the revolver in the 1830s, multi-shot guns predate Colonel Colt by over two centuries.' Especially because the Supreme Court's decision in District of Columbia v. Heller2 considers whether arms are in common use and are typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes,3 the article also pays attention to whether and when particular guns and their magazines achieved mass-market success in the United States. The first time a rifle with more than ten rounds of ammunition did so was in 1866,4 and the first time a * Adjunct Professor of Advanced Constitutional Law, Denver University, Sturm College of Law. Research Director, Independence Institute, Denver, Colorado. Associate Policy Analyst, Cato Institute, Washington, D.C. Professor Kopel is the author of fifteen books and over ninety scholarly journal articles, including the first law school textbook on the Second Amendment. See generally NICHOLAS J. JOHNSON, DAVID B. KOPEL, GEORGE A. MOCSARY & MICHAEL P. O'SHEA, FIREARMS LAW AND THE SECOND AMENDMENT: REGULATION, RIGHTS, AND POLICY (2012). Professor Kopel's website is http://www.davekopel.org. The author would like to thank Joseph Greenlee and Noah Rauscher for research assistance. 1 See Clayton E. Cramer & Joseph Edward Olson, Pistols, Crime, and Public Safety in Early America, 44 WILLAMETTE L. REV. 699, 716 (2008). 2 District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008). 3 Id. at 624-25, 627. 4 See infra notes 50-55 and accompanying text. 849

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