Los Angeles Outlaws High-Capacity Gun Magazines

Leaders in Los Angeles voted unanimously to ban the sale of high-capacity gun magazines, putting the city in the middle of the debate over national gun control following mass shootings nationwide and a boost in violent crime in some large cities.

The city council says the measure it passed Tuesday will close a loophole in California law that bans the manufacture and sale of magazines holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition — but not their possession.

The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence contends that the magazines are a common thread in mass shootings, including at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in 2012.

The ordinance comes as gun control legislation has failed to get off the ground following such massacres.

Mayor Eric Garcetti says he will sign the measure and it will go into effect 30 days after that. Those who have magazines will have a 60-grace period to legally sell, surrender or take them out of the city.

The National Rifle Association and other gun rights groups have threatened to sue, saying that the ordinance violates the Second Amendment and is pre-empted by state law. An NRA attorney said that magazines holding more than 10 rounds “are in common use for self-defense and they are overwhelmingly chosen for that purpose.”

Connecticut passed a similar law in 2013, banning the sale of magazines of more than 10 rounds, and requiring residents who own them to register them — although they do not have serial numbers.