Friendly Warning on High Cap Mags

[Admin]

Thanks for the reminder Jim.

I'll add that just because a dealer in Mass will sell it to you doesn't mean it's legal.

Even if the dealer tells you it's OK, it's up to you to know the law.

+1

 

[Mattyb]

Ive recently acquired a Glock 22 with 2 Hicaps, Is there anyway to find out when they were manufactured? Sorry if this is an old topic. I'm new to the Glock world

 

[calsdad]

I drive this fact home EVERY class I teach.

Even then, I still get asked "What about if I buy it in NH or down at Cabellas?"

I think this is a very good example of how screwed up the law is - people just cannot comprehend it because it defies logic.

 

[kevin9]

Ive recently acquired a Glock 22 with 2 Hicaps, Is there anyway to find out when they were manufactured? Sorry if this is an old topic. I'm new to the Glock world

According to Glock, no, as long as they are not the newest ambidextrous magazines.

 

[terraformer]

According to Glock, no, as long as they are not the newest ambidextrous magazines.

Which means if there is a 1" wide, 1/2" high slot on the front of the mag where the metal is exposed then it is the ambi post ban version.

 

[dwarven1]

Even the after market high cap mags for the Ruger 10/22 could get you 10 years in jail!

Which is why the only such mags I've got are all pre-ban. It's just not worth 10 years of my life to try and skate around it.

I've got like 30 newly made AR-15 magazines! All part of the benefits of being in NH! Watcha all waiting for?

Jason, do you get PAID by the NH Chamber of Commerce for all these posts?

Besides... I'm waiting for Spend-it-all to help me out. Soon as he gets his $.19/gallon tax passed, and gets his pet Nazis in the RMV to start putting chips in the inspection stickers, that's my ticket out of this worker's paradise... and I don't even have to fight the wife about it as she's in complete agreement with me about chips in our cars. The only chips we want in the cars are Pringles.

Ive recently acquired a Glock 22 with 2 Hicaps, Is there anyway to find out when they were manufactured? Sorry if this is an old topic. I'm new to the Glock world

Nope - not even Glock can tell you how to tell - apparently they don't put any date codes on their mags. This has been hashed out a LOT.

 

[TomH]

Nope - not even Glock can tell you how to tell - apparently they don't put any date codes on their mags. This has been hashed out a LOT.

Which means you could get busted for mags that are legal too! Got to love the MA system! Making criminals out of everybody. Because there isn't any real reason to ban them... you can get a pre-ban if you want anyway so its all pointless. I'm with doobie on this one, get out now!

 

[ateamrob]

Nope - not even Glock can tell you how to tell - apparently they don't put any date codes on their mags. This has been hashed out a LOT.

and when you look at it.... why would they care? Only MA and a few other states still bother with the AWB. All other states are good to go. Its on like Donkey Kong when it comes to hi caps. Their AWB is over and they could care less about it. They scoff at states like ours..... You wont find many companys other than MA companys like S&W marking their mags anymore. Of course once "num nuts" reinstates the AWB they all will start marking them LEO/Gov use only again.

 

[Lugnut]

Some mags- newer Glock mags with ambi mag releases and M&P hi caps are obvious...

 

[jar]

Of course once "num nuts" reinstates the AWB they all will start marking them LEO/Gov use only again.

Is that mag pre-ban or pre-pre-ban?

 

[SA John]

I've been told by every Mass. dealer I've ever talked to that the mag issue only applied to handguns and that a person could have any big magazine for any longarm in Mass. And I believed this because eveyone said it. Dealers, that is. This is a surprise to me.

 

[PaulD]

A few months back drgrant and I had the same conversation and the same conclusion was reached. The poor guy who eventually gets screwed by it is likely the least deserving of that punishment.

Indeed. There's a thread around here which talks about bad gun advice given by gun shops, LEOs, etc. and a lot of the bad advice was around large cap mags.

 

[kevin9]

Folks need to RTFL. AFAIK it's been that way for what +14 years.

 

[Bob P]

Which means you could get busted for mags that are legal too! Got to love the MA system! Making criminals out of everybody. Because there isn't any real reason to ban them... you can get a pre-ban if you want anyway so its all pointless. I'm with doobie on this one, get out now!

Innocent until proven guilty. They would have to be able to prove the mags were post ban.


It'd cost you a shiteload of money but they'd have a hard time proving otherwise.

This is not an avocation to go out and buy post ban mags. I'm with Ross, not worth the chance of 10 years behind bars.

 

[Bob P]

I've been told by every Mass. dealer I've ever talked to that the mag issue only applied to handguns and that a person could have any big magazine for any longarm in Mass. And I believed this because eveyone said it. Dealers, that is. This is a surprise to me.

Fraid they're not being upfront with you. Either you've misunderstood or you need to find a better dealer.

 

[terraformer]

Folks need to RTFL. AFAIK it's been that way for what +14 years.

But for 10 of those years there were no mags on the market that could get you in trouble that weren't LEO marked. Now you have an ample supply (well, so long as Obama keeps his trap shut that week...) right across the border on almost all sides of MA. You have shops thumbing their nose at the laws and selling the stuff. You have Rosencrantz saying the AWB was a failure and he doesn't care about it. You have people hearing on the national news that Obama wants to reinstate the expired AWB (so it must be expired, right???). As much as I am not a fan of a powerful federal government, I am not a fan of states that can make up their own crap like this when there are no import controls on state borders. Jurisdictional laws where the person can go across a state line and buy it are USELESS and serve only to make criminals out of ignorant and/or confused people.

At least with MA compliant handguns a) there are import controls (the FFL system) and b) the only person punished are those governed by the import control and not the buyer. It may be an insane law (well, whatever it is the AG is enforcing), but it is at least effective in that it greatly reduces the likelihood of people easily and unknowingly violating the law.

 

[DirkDiggler]

But for 10 of those years there were no mags on the market that could get you in trouble that weren't LEO marked. Now you have an ample supply (well, so long as Obama keeps his trap shut that week...) right across the border on almost all sides of MA. You have shops thumbing their nose at the laws and selling the stuff. You have Rosencrantz saying the AWB was a failure and he doesn't care about it. You have people hearing on the national news that Obama wants to reinstate the expired AWB (so it must be expired, right???). As much as I am not a fan of a powerful federal government, I am not a fan of states that can make up their own crap like this when there are no import controls on state borders. Jurisdictional laws where the person can go across a state line and buy it are USELESS and serve only to make criminals out of ignorant and/or confused people.

At least with MA compliant handguns a) there are import controls (the FFL system) and b) the only person punished are those governed by the import control and not the buyer. It may be an insane law (well, whatever it is the AG is enforcing), but it is at least effective in that it greatly reduces the likelihood of people easily and unknowingly violating the law.

The mass laws make no sense at all. go to http://www.goal.org/MassGunLawReform.htm and see what we can do about changing things.

 

[dwarven1]

Innocent until proven guilty. They would have to be able to prove the mags were post ban.

True... but you'd still wind up paying a lawyer anyway if you get arrested for it.

I'm with Ross, not worth the chance of 10 years behind bars.

Just to amplify - it's not worth trying to "get away with" post-ban mags when you can get PRE-ban with a little effort. I have preban high-caps for all my handguns that take them, and prebans for my Rugers. Wasn't all that hard to track them down, either.

 

[Individualist]

MA version of Russian Roulette

including no mags over 10 rounds made AFTER 1994?

Thats correct. MA want to make sure that the felons intent on doing harm, will have every advantage available to them... since they don't give a rat's ass about following the law anyway.

When the bad guys come at you with their "illegal" hi-caps you will either have to 1) use special low cap mags that provide disadvantaged firepower and are sometimes less reliable than the normal ("hi-cap") mags design for the firearm's most efficient use, OR you can purchase pre-bans that may have worn out and become less reliable or don't work as well as new mags.

But, this is all for your own good and the good of those who's lives you seek to protect.

 

[Bob P]

True... but you'd still wind up paying a lawyer anyway if you get arrested for it.


Just to amplify - it's not worth trying to "get away with" post-ban mags when you can get PRE-ban with a little effort. I have preban high-caps for all my handguns that take them, and prebans for my Rugers. Wasn't all that hard to track them down, either.

100% agreement. I've legitimate pre-ban mags for my AR - they're getting more expensive but they're still not that hard to find.

 

[drgrant]

At least with MA compliant handguns a) there are import controls (the FFL system) and b) the only person punished are those governed by the import control and not the buyer. It may be an insane law (well, whatever it is the AG is enforcing), but it is at least effective in that it greatly reduces the likelihood of people easily and unknowingly violating the law.

I see what you are getting at, but handgun compliance is a really bad example- Even if the federal (Brady? GCA68?) prohibitions on non-resident handgun purchases did not exist, buyers still could not "unknowingly" violate the law even if they tried, since the law doesn't apply to these
buyers anyways. It's hard to violate a law which contextually doesn't exist.

ETA: This whole pre/postban mag/gun crap though, yes, it is a pile of confusing shit legally. it obviously accomplishes nothing, except to serve as a cheap antipersonnel mine of sorts against gun owners in MA. Nobody's managed to set one off yet, but the shitty part is, when it does happen, the
person that does is probably gonna get toasted, and probably won't deserve it. [sad2]

-Mike

 

[Mass-diver]

Is that mag pre-ban or pre-pre-ban?

It's going to get very confusing....

 

[drgrant]

Fraid they're not being upfront with you. Either you've misunderstood or you need to find a better dealer.

If he tries to find a better dealer he'll be looking for a long time.

If I gave every dealer in MA that didn't know the law very well (in some regard or another) a black cross, I'd probably be left with like 2 dealers,
and even those two have been known to slip or be incorrect from time to time, at least in things that matter to the buyer. A gun shop is usually a terrible source for legal advice on MA gun law. Some are better than others, but none are anywhere approaching perfect in this regard. After all, they are gun shops, not law offices.

-Mike

 

[MassMark]

If I take a pre-ban and a post ban and weld them together, will I get 5-years?

 

[terraformer]

I see what you are getting at, but handgun compliance is a really bad example- Even if the federal (Brady? GCA68?) prohibitions on non-resident handgun purchases did not exist, buyers still could not "unknowingly" violate the law even if they tried, since the law doesn't apply to these
buyers anyways. It's hard to violate a law which contextually doesn't exist.

That was one of my points, the seller is the person on the hook and not the buyer. With the AWB, it was both seller and buyer that is at issue.

 

[outofbattery]

Magpul sells disassembled PMags for CA residents who have an even more strict ban when it comes to transfer of mags than we have,ie that no new pre-bans can be purchased out of state and I believe is,or at least was, "repairing" old pre-bans into entirely legal PMags via replacing all of the wear items.What I am getting at in a long winded way,is asking if there is anything that precludes this from MA law or is this a grey area in which one would somehow have to prove that the new magazine is actually the old magazine with all of the parts replaced? < as the head spins at the absurdity of it all >

 

[mikem317]

I never figured out how they can figure out when a magazine was manufactured when the actual manufacturers don't know.

 

[mikem317]

If I take a pre-ban and a post ban and weld them together, will I get 5-years?

Yes, because it would be considered "manufactured" when you weld them together. I think.

 

[Lugnut]

I don't see what the need is for preban hicaps- just practice reloads and you'll be fine.

 

[Kicker96FS]

You guys are confusing me, you mention large cap mags for rifles, then handguns.
A Beretta 9mm comes with a 15 round mag, a 96fs comes with a 11 round mag, to own a handgun in this state you need a LTC, LARGE CAPACITY.

So, what does the LARGE CAPACITY stand for? (when we talk about HANDGUNS)

If you are talking about rifles, like a AR-15, that only requires a FID card and I understand the restrictions on that, including the pre and post ban stuff.

Please clarify.