In a recent article, entitled “Packing heat: How gun law loopholes tripled Canada’s rifle magazine limits”, Global News’ Patrick Cain explored how Canadian firearms businesses and individuals are able to use 10 or 15 round magazines legally in readily available rifles.
I was quoted in the article:
Gun rights advocates say this just proves that having magazine limits is pointless in the first place.
“There is no logical reason to have limits on magazine capacity when it is so easy for anyone with any criminal intent whatsoever to circumvent them,” said Ottawa-based firearms lawyer Solomon Friedman. “A 30-round magazine … becomes a legal device by placing a rivet in the spine of the magazine limiting it to five rounds, which can be removed in three seconds with a power drill.”
In theory, he said, if a Beowulf pistol were made – with room for 10 rounds of oversized .50-caliber bullets – it could be filled with smaller bullets and used as a legal 30-round rifle magazine.
Meantime, he added, the situation as it stands creates a legalistic trap for law-abiding gun-owners.
“We have two million gun owners who are expected to be governed by these laws that our lawmakers can’t figure out. Think about the person who buys this at a gun show, because at the time it was perfectly legal, and next thing you know is the subject of a criminal charge and is facing a maximum of ten years in jail.”