Ban On Arizona Shooter's Gun Clip Was Overturned By The GOP In 2004

The Glock 19 bullet magazine used by Jared Lee Loughner had been banned under a 1994 assault weapons law instituted during the Clinton administration. But under enormous pressure from the National Rifle Association, in 2004 the GOP successfully worked to allow that ban to expire. AmericaBlog posts this excerpt from Salon:

According to police and media reports, the alleged shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, legally purchased a semiautomatic Glock 19 with a high-capacity magazine in November at a gun store in Tucson. Under the assault weapons ban, it was illegal to manufacture or sell new high-capacity magazines, defined as those that hold more than 10 rounds. The magazines used by Loughner had 31 rounds each, according to police. If Loughner had been using a traditional magazine, "it would have drastically reduced the number of shots he got off before he had to pause, unload and reload -- and he could have been stopped," Daniel Vice, senior attorney at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, tells Salon.

Loughner was tackled by several heroic bystanders as he paused to load a second 31-bullet clip into his weapon.