The NYPD’s reluctance to take the lead in seeking to ban sales of high- capacity gun magazines to civilians is a disappointment.
As is Mayor Bloomberg’s ambivalence to the notion.
As we noted yesterday, the 30-round magazine that Jared Lee Loughner employed to create so much carnage last Saturday has no civilian utility.
And Glock simply shouldn’t be selling them. Period.
Thus it makes perfect sense for the NYPD and other urban police departments to simply stop buying Glock sidearms until the company pulls them off the market.
What does the department think?
“The NYPD has supported the prohibition of high-capacity magazines ever since they were originally prohibited
as part of the ban on assault weap-
ons,” says a spokesman for Police
Commissioner Ray Kelly.
That’s pretty tepid.
So is City Hall’s position: “It’s an interesting idea, and it’s something we’ll raise with our bipartisan coalition of 550 Mayors Against Illegal Guns.”
Interesting?
Mayor Bloomberg has been an opponent of illegal guns for some time now — at least rhetorically.
We understand that a ban on high-capacity magazines would be largely symbolic — but high-decibel disapprobation could count for a lot, especially if it were to come from organizations like the storied NYPD.
A simple statement from the department that it won’t do business with the company as long as it markets high-capacity magazines would certainly grab its attention.
It’s not the answer.
But it is an answer.