Measure is one of eight gun-safety bills now headed to full House for consideration next week

Press Release

The U.S. House Judiciary Committee voted late Thursday to approve a package of eight gun-safety bills that will now head to the full House for a vote as early as next week.

The package includes legislation originally introduced by U.S. Reps. Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Ted Deutch (D-FL) to ban the sale, manufacturing, transfer or possession of high-capacity gun magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition.

"There's no reason why any civilian in this country needs a gun magazine that holds more than 10 rounds," DeGette said. "Experts agree that banning the sale of these high-capacity magazines is one of the most effective things we can do to protect our communities. We also need to strengthen our system of background checks and get these assault weapons off our streets immediately."

DeGette and Deutch originally introduced the legislation -- known as the Keep Americans Safe Act (H.R. 2510) -- in April 2021, just weeks after a gunman in Boulder, Colorado, armed with an AR-style assault weapon and high-capacity magazine, opened fire in a crowded supermarket killing 10 innocent people.

The use of high-capacity magazines capable of holding 30, 60 or even 100 rounds have become a staple of some of the nation's deadliest mass shootings -- including the recent shootings in Uvalde, Texas and Buffalo, New York. Their use has enabled the perpetrators of these horrific attacks to fire dozens of rounds before having to stop and reload, allowing them to kill more people in less time.

In 2019, for example, a gunman in Dayton, Ohio used a high-capacity magazine capable of holding up to 100 rounds of ammunition to fire 41 rounds -- and kill nine people -- in just 32 seconds. Several years earlier, in 2012, a gunman in Aurora, Colorado -- also armed with a magazine drum capable of holding up to 100 rounds -- opened fire in a crowded movie theater killing 12 people and injuring 58 more.

The gunman who killed 20 children and six teachers in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut was armed with high-capacity magazines capable of holding up to 30 rounds each; as was the shooter who killed 49 people and wounded 53 more in 2016 at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida; and the gunman who killed 17 students and injured 17 more at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in 2018.

In 1994, the federal government took steps to ban the sale of high-capacity magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds. That ban, however, expired in 2004.

If approved, DeGette and Deutch's legislation would:

Reinstate a nationwide ban on the sale, transfer or possession of high-capacity gun magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds.
Authorize high-capacity magazine buyback programs using Byrne JAG grant funds;
Give law enforcement agencies, including FBI and ATF, the authority to seize and destroy high-capacity magazines possessed illegally; and
The bill would not apply to high-capacity magazines legally owned before the legislation takes effect, meaning those currently in possession of such magazines can keep them -- but they would not be able to sell or transfer them to anyone else.

The legislation also does not apply to qualified law enforcement, and would require any high-capacity magazines manufactured after the bill is enacted to have a serial number and date of manufacturing clearly printed on it so that it can be easily identified by law enforcement. Possession of a newly manufactured high-capacity magazine by anyone other than law enforcement would be prohibited.

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