While Democratic politicians insist on infringing on the rights of law-abiding Americans to prevent the next mass shooting, a report from earlier this week that received barely any attention shows that their efforts would not have stopped the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School gunman.
House Democrats introduced an assault weapons ban bill this week that would also "prohibit the sale, transfer, production, and importation of semi-automatic rifles and pistols that have a magazine or can accept a magazine that can hold more than 10 bullets, and any ammunition-feeding device that can hold more than 10 bullets."
This bill would have done nothing to prevent the Parkland shooting as the gunman did not use "high-capacity" magazines, he used 10-round magazines. The Miami Herald reports:
Several state legislators who visited the school with crime-scene investigators said they learned from police that [the shooter]’s rifle was not top-of-the-line, perhaps explaining the malfunction.
[The shooter] went in with only 10-round magazines because larger clips would not fit in his duffel bag. ...
The information came from Democratic State Sen. Lauren Book (Plantation) who said the "weapon and bullets were not high quality and were breaking apart." The Herald further noted:
Before the weapon jammed, the 19-year-old tried to shoot out a third-floor window in the freshman building of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School so he could spray bullets onto helpless students and staff below. But the hurricane-impact glass did not break.
A weapons expert told the Herald that jamming is a major weakness of the AR-15 platform and that the rifles “are prone to this type of problem if not cleaned thoroughly.”