My goodness! *gasp* Horrors! It’s, it’s, it’s like criminals intent on murder and mayhem don’t seem to care about observing any other laws!
It’s Amazing I tells Ya!
Boulder Shooting Investigators Examine Whether an Illegal Ammunition Magazine Was Used
Investigators are trying to determine whether the suspect in Monday’s Boulder supermarket shooting used an illegal 30-round magazine, law-enforcement officials said.
Colorado banned the sale and possession of magazines that hold more than 15 rounds in 2013, one year after the Aurora theater shooting that left 12 dead and dozens injured.
Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, the suspect in Monday’s shooting, legally purchased a Ruger AR-556 pistol—a smaller version of an AR-style rifle—that he used in the attack at a local gun store, Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold said at a news conference Friday.
Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty declined to address questions about the ammunition magazine at the news conference, saying more information about the gun would be released in the coming weeks.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has been working to trace the weapon used in the attack, police said.
Mr. Alissa allegedly used the gun to open fire on shoppers, employees and police at a King Soopers store Monday before he was taken into custody, law-enforcement officials say.
John Eagleton, owner of Eagle’s Nest Armory, said Mr. Alissa bought the gun at this store and that he passed a state background check. Mr. Eagleton said the store is cooperating with investigators. An attorney for the store did not respond to a request for comment about whether it sold him a magazine.
“Ensuring every sale that occurs at our shop is lawful has always been and will always remain the highest priority for our business,” said Mr. Eagleton.
In much of the country, Americans can buy magazines of any size. Magazines that hold 30 rounds are normally sold with AR-style weapons, which allow the shooter to fire 30 shots before switching out the magazine.
Nine states have laws that limit the capacity of magazines, most to 10 or 15 rounds.
Advocates for such laws say they limit the damage that can be done by mass shooters. Researchers from Columbia University studied 69 mass shootings between 1990 and 2017 and found a 62 percent higher death toll in attacks where the shooter used a magazine that held more than 10 rounds.
The shooter in a 2019 Dayton, Ohio, attack killed nine people and wounded 17 others in less than a minute with a 100-round drum magazine attached to his AR-style pistol. The gunman who killed 60 people in 2017 at a concert in Las Vegas also had 100-round magazines.
Gun groups say that limiting magazine size only hurts law-abiding gun owners and have waged successful battles against them in court.