Americans Own More Than 700 Million 11-Plus-Round Gun Magazines: NSSF

Semi-automatic rifles hang on the wall for sale at Blue Ridge Arsenal in Chantilly, Virginia, on Oct. 6, 2017. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

U.S. citizens own over 700 million ammunition magazines with more than a 10-round capacity, making it the “national standard for magazine capacity,” according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF).

“An estimated 963 million magazines were produced and entered the commercial market between 1990 and 2021,” an April 12 NSSF report said.

“Of the estimated 963 million magazines, approximately 74 percent, or 717 million magazines, have a capacity of 11+ rounds.”

The study looked at how magazine capacity varied between pistols and rifles. The majority of magazines with 11+ round capacity were found to be rifle magazines.

Of the more than 579 million rifle magazines, over 508 million had magazines with 11+ round capacity. More than 448 million of these magazines had 30+ round capacity.

When it came to pistols, 11+ round capacity magazines totaled more than 209 million compared to the 174 million magazines with 10 and below capacity.

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“Consumer preferences of 11+ capacity magazines are reflected in the manufacturing activity of the firearm industry. Changes in legislation outlawing or granting access to these magazines may change overall market proportions but the preference to have more ammunition available is clear,” the NSSF said in the report.

According to data from the Giffords Law Center, 12 states have imposed a 10-round limit for magazine possession—California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York state, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. In addition, the District of Columbia also has a 10-round limit on magazines.

The fact that a majority of rifle magazines have a 30+ round capacity was a standout data point in the study. An earlier NSSF research report from 2022 had looked at the use of Modern Sporting Rifles (MSR). More than half of MSR owners had a magazine capacity of 30 rounds.

“When asked why they chose their respective capacity, most frequent responses were related to popularity/standard and being readily available,” the NSSF stated in the April 12 study.

Commenting on the findings of the recent study, the NSSF said the data “confirms what NSSF has known, that the national standard for magazine capacity for America’s gun owners is greater than 10 rounds.”

“With nearly 1 billion detachable magazines in circulation, for both rifles and pistols, they are unquestionably commonly owned and commonly used for lawful firearm use, including recreational target shooting, hunting, and self-defense,” it said.

“They are ‘arms’ within the meaning of the Second Amendment. Detachable magazines are integral to the design of, and necessary for, the proper functioning of today’s modern semi-automatic firearms.”

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) reported on April 12 that it detected 1,503 firearms at security checkpoints of airports across America in the first quarter of 2024. More than 93 percent were loaded.

This averages to around 16.5 firearms detected daily at TSA checkpoints.

“Every time we discover a firearm at the checkpoint, the security screening process is slowed down for all. Traveling with a firearm is allowed and it must be packed properly as checked baggage and declared to the airline at the ticket counter,” TSA Administrator David Pekoske said.

Restrictive Gun Laws

The NSSF report comes amid several efforts to ban magazines with a capacity greater than 10 rounds. In January last year, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, signed into law the Protecting Illinois Communities (Act) banning magazines with over 10 rounds of ammunition.

Gun rights groups slammed the move.

“Clearly, the Illinois gun and magazine bans are unconstitutional under principles set down in the 2008 Heller ruling and the 2022 Bruen decision,” Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), said in February.

In the 2008 Heller case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that laws requiring guns to be locked, stored, or unloaded violated the Second Amendment. The court later ruled in the 2022 Bruen case that any new gun regulation must comply with the text of the Second Amendment and have a comparable analog in the nation’s history of firearms law.

“It is indisputable that modern semiautomatic rifles and magazines holding more than 10 cartridges are in common use by tens of millions of U.S. citizens, so such a ban is, in the court’s own words, ‘off the table,’” Mr. Gottlieb stated.

Democrats are doubling down on more stringent gun control regulations. In August, Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) introduced the Assault Weapons Excise Act (HR 5135), which imposes a 1,000 percent excise tax on the purchases of “large capacity ammunition feeding devices” and assault weapons. The bill was co-sponsored by 24 Democrat lawmakers.

This could lead to a $500 rifle costing an extra $5,000 on top of its actual price. Under federal law, all gun purchases already require a 10 to 11 percent excise tax. The proposed tax would be on top of that.

In December, the White House published the “Safer States Initiative” which contains a list of actions that states should take to “reduce gun violence.” One is holding the gun industry “accountable” by “banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.”

The National Rifle Association of America’s Institute for Legislative Action dismisses the idea of linking assault weapons with greater violence.

The group points out that a congressionally mandated study of the federal assault weapon ban in effect between 1994 and 2004 “found that the ban had no impact on crime, in part because ‘the banned guns were never used in more than a modest fraction of gun murders.’”

Rifles “of any type are used in only 2 percent of murders” the study found. “Subsequent research conducted by the RAND Corporation found no conclusive evidence that banning ‘assault weapons’ or ‘large’ capacity magazines has an effect on mass shootings or violent crime.”