Councilman Paul Krekorian wants a report on the feasibility and benefits of banning such magazines. He cites the 1997 North Hollywood shootout between Los Angeles police officers and two bank robbers clad in bullet-resistant armor and toting assault rifles as one of the reasons on the possible ban. Thousands of rounds of ammunition were used during the incident.
"Prohibit the possession of these high-capacity, which supersize weapons and make them much easier to use for the kinds of mass killings that we've seen far too often in this state and throughout the country," Krekorian said.
California state law already bans the sale and manufacture of those magazines, but Krekorian says people can still possess them. However, Elias Yidonoy The owner of the Los Angeles Gun Club says Krekorian is only partially correct.
"You cannot bring them from out of state into California," he said. "You can possess them if you purchased them prior to the ban being enacted, I believe in 1993."
Krekorian is asking the city attorney and the LAPD to see if it would be legally enforceable to ban the magazines. It comes as some states and the federal government look at ways to stop mass shootings.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said he supports Krekorian's idea.
"We've done a lot here in the city and we've done a lot in the state. If you don't have a federal ban, it reduces your ability to control many of these weapons and ammunitions," Villaraigosa said.
Yidonoy said it's already against the law to commit murder. Would another law stop someone who wants to commit a crime?
"People that are going to do something wrong are going to do it with whether it's a meat cleaver, fertilizer as Timothy McVeigh did, or anything else," Yidonoy said.
