The lapse of the assault weapons ban of '94-'04 slightly changed gun crime, but not dramatically. It did lead to more casualties in mass shooting events, but mass shootings constitute a tiny proportion of overall gun crime in the US anyway. (They are vastly more visible, though, which is why they garner so much media and political attention.)
The big problem in the US is the ubiquity of handguns, according to FBI statistics where their presense in gun crime incidences dwarfs all other forms of firearms combined. Canada's overall better record on gun crime likely results from its immensely tighter controls on handguns (and outright ban on civilian CCW) rather than magazine limits. Alas that's a genie that's truly out of the bottle in America; I don't know how American law could address this, though I'm certain that ubiquitous CCW is a huge step in the wrong direction. (And "Stand Your Ground" is an even greater mistake.)
The magazine limits do help limit the damage in mass shootings and spree shootings, though, which is still worth doing in my opinion.
-- Steve has opined in the past that needing more than 5 rounds in a magazine is a sign of needing more training or more backup, but that may be biased by his own training and background.
no subject
The big problem in the US is the ubiquity of handguns, according to FBI statistics where their presense in gun crime incidences dwarfs all other forms of firearms combined. Canada's overall better record on gun crime likely results from its immensely tighter controls on handguns (and outright ban on civilian CCW) rather than magazine limits. Alas that's a genie that's truly out of the bottle in America; I don't know how American law could address this, though I'm certain that ubiquitous CCW is a huge step in the wrong direction. (And "Stand Your Ground" is an even greater mistake.)
The magazine limits do help limit the damage in mass shootings and spree shootings, though, which is still worth doing in my opinion.
-- Steve has opined in the past that needing more than 5 rounds in a magazine is a sign of needing more training or more backup, but that may be biased by his own training and background.