Ban Proposed on High-Capacity Ammunition in Los Angeles

In advance of President Obama’s gun control proposals to be unveiled tomorrow morning, a Los Angeles city official wants to make it illegal to own ammo for high-capacity magazines within city limits.

L.A. City Councilman Paul Krekorian is asking for a staff report on what the city can do to restrict the availability of such ammo.

State law bans the manufacture and sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines but not the possession of those clips.

Krekorian said his motion, introduced today, would not infringe on the American right to keep and bear arms.

“I can’t conceive that the Second Amendment was intended by the founders to prohibit a local government from barring high-capacity ammunition magazines,” Krekorian said.

But Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of California, disagreed, calling the proposal “ridiculous.”

“Why would anybody, and who gives anybody the right to decide what law-abiding citizens need to defend themselves in their own homes?” Paredes said.

Paredes said pro-gun organizations in the state are prepared to go to court to overturn the ban. The measure now goes to the Public Safety Committee before it moves to the full Council for consideration.