The Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)

Specifically, legally owned fully automatic weapons have been used in two murders since the US started regulating them; at least one was owned by a police officer. So by numbers, full-auto weapons are safer than cars, knives, baseball bats, belts, or beer. (It's also true that full-auto hobbyists are fairly rare, and the ones who jump through enough hoops to own their toys at all are pretty responsible.) The press seems willfully ignorant about terminology.

The magazine thing is pretty clearly a tactic to limit something about guns and take something away from gun owners; since removing the weapons themselves is legally tricky, it's more practical to attack the ammunition containers that have no particular protection.