The 1994-2004 magazine ban had no effect on crime.

• Violent crime (one-quarter of which involves firearms) and property crime (none of which involves firearms) began declining before the federal magazine ban of 1994-2004 was imposed. Both types of crime continued to fall after the ban expired, for reasons that have nothing to do with gun control.17
• Multiple independent studies have found no evidence that gun control reduces crime18 and the 1994 ban would be among the gun control laws least likely to do so. Congress’ study of the ban found that the magazines “had never been used in more than a modest fraction of all gun murders” in the first place. The study also “failed to produce any evidence that the ban reduced the number of victims per gun homicide incident” and found that “the average number of gunshot wounds per victim [about two wounds per victim] did not decrease” after the ban19
• A follow-up study found that “gunshot injury incidents involving pistols [which use magazines] were less likely to produce a death than those involving revolvers [which don’t use magazines].” It also found that “the average number of wounds for pistol victims was actually lower than that for revolver victims.”20
• Over the last 20 years, as the number of magazines that hold more than 10 rounds has soared to an all-time high, the nation’s murder rate has plummeted 53 percent, to at least a 50-year low.21
• The official report on the Virginia Tech shootings of 2007, in which 15-round magazines were used, concluded that if the criminal had been limited to 10-round magazines, it “would have not made much difference.”22