(TRENTON) – New Jersey Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald (D-Camden/Burlington) on Thursday said the recent arrest in Roselle Park shows the urgent need for New Jersey to crack down on high-capacity ammunition magazines:
“As we heard from the families of Newtown, mass murderers using high-capacity magazines in shootings can happen anywhere – even where we least expect it.
“This incident strikes entirely too close to home for New Jersey families who watched the news stories of Newtown, Aurora and Tuscan in horror. We cannot afford to wait any longer to crack down on the kinds of high-capacity magazines that could bring a devastating tragedy to New Jersey.
“While we are all deeply thankful that no harm came of this individual’s plans, we cannot afford to wait until tragedy strikes in New Jersey to do the right thing. Limiting magazine capacity to 10 rounds is the kind of common sense reform we need in New Jersey to prevent gun violence.”
According to the Star-Ledger, a traffic stop in Roselle Park led to the arrest of an individual suspected of stockpiling dangerous weapons. Among the items discovered by police were high-capacity magazines, an M-4 assault rifle, bomb-making materials and hollow point bullets.
A Washington Post analysis has shown that President Clinton’s 1994 assault weapons ban, which limited magazine capacity to 10 rounds, drastically reduced the number of high-capacity magazines in the hands of criminals.
A-1329, sponsored by Greenwald, would reduce the maximum magazine capacity to 10 rounds. The bill passed the Assembly in February and awaits action in the Senate.