When is it enough?

"High Capacity Magazines When ten rounds isn't enough," the Internet site offers.

When, exactly, would that be? Enough for what?

Jared Lee Loughner arrived at a Tucson Safeway on Saturdaymorning with a Glock 19 semiautomatic pistol outfitted with anoversized magazine that police say allowed him to get off 31 shotsbefore he had to stop. The pause for reloading gave 61-year-oldPatricia Maisch the chance to grab the new magazine from Loughner.

Guns don't kill people, bullets kill people -- and gunmen intenton killing a lot of people tend to think 10 rounds is not enough.

Maj. Nidal Hasan, the accused Fort Hood shooter, told a curious clerk at Guns Galore that he wanted the extended-capacity clips because "he didn't like spending time loading magazines when he was at the range," according to court testimony. A few months later, Hasan, armed with 16 magazines and nearly 400 rounds of ammunition, allegedly killed 13 people.

For all the focus on weaponry, one of the most useful parts ofthe now-lapsed federal assault-weapons ban was that it prohibitedthe manufacture of magazines of more than 10 rounds. If the law,which expired in 2004, were still in effect, it would not stopcrazed gunmen from inflicting damage, but it might limit the amountof damage they could inflict.

As a matter of political self-preservation, I would not advise Democrats to mount a full-scale push for new gun-control measures.

But with six dead in Tucson, including a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl, can we not as a society agree that these high-capacity magazines have no business in general commerce? New JerseyDemocratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg and New York Democratic Rep.Carolyn McCarthy, whose husband was killed in the 1993 Long IslandRail Road shooting, plan to introduce legislation to reinstate the10-round limit.

Glock, which manufactured the gun that Loughner used, doesn'twant to discuss the issue; the company did not return phone calls.The National Rifle Association is hiding behind protestations of respect for the victims.

At Gun Owners of America, which manages the astonishing feat of making the NRA look reasonable, John Velleco, the director of federal affairs, came up with two arguments against limiting magazines to 10 rounds. One, the classic slippery slope: First, they'll take our 30-round magazines

"There is no OK number with Carolyn McCarthy and her allies inthe Congress," Velleco said. "They will only start with the number.If the government can ban magazines with 10 or more rounds, it canban a magazine that holds five or more rounds."

Two, the self-defense fallacy. "Who knows how many rounds a law-abiding person might need to protect themselves?" Velleco asked."The lesson that a lot of Americans may take from this incident andothers like it is that, as brave and quick as the police are, theycan't be everywhere all the time and maybe we need to take anotherlook at our own self-protection."

So a gun-carrying citizen is at the shooting, tries to stop Loughner, and 10 rounds isn't enough? A high-capacity magazine in the hands of such a bystander would be more likely to inflict more damage on other innocent observers than to take down the shooter.

Members of Congress: Look at the pictures of Christina Green,shot dead at age 9. Imagine that she was your daughter, and she washit by the 15th bullet, or the 25th.

And ask yourself: Isn't 10 rounds more than enough?

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