We’ve seen it over and over and over. When advocates for gun control can’t get what they want (a total ban on all firearms except for the government… when they’re in control, that is), they look for other ways to try to effectively shadow ban firearms.
What do I mean by shadow ban? I mean that they look for actions that they can take that have the effect of making firearms harder to get or to use but that aren’t direct bans of firearms.
They do this for two reasons:
- To get around resistance to outright gun bans, and…
- So they can say, “We aren’t banning your guns. You can still have them.”
Never mind that the action that they took goes a long way to make it more difficult to have and use that gun.
Still not clear on what I mean? Michael Clements reports on a shadow ban action in one state:
A law requiring fixed magazines that hold no more than 15 rounds for certain types of semiautomatic firearms is set to come into effect in Colorado on Aug. 1.
The law also requires classroom training, background checks, and approval from law enforcement for an individual to receive a permit to purchase one of the affected firearms.
The legislation, which was signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis on April 10, 2025, was challenged in court the following September.
Second Amendment advocates say the law is a de facto “assault weapons” ban.
How is this a de facto gun ban, a shadow ban on certain firearms? Clements continues:
Rather than banning specific guns, Colorado SB25-003 lists the characteristics of firearms that must have a fixed magazine that holds no more than 15 rounds.
The new law bans detachable ammunition magazines for certain firearms without banning large classes of firearms […].
And if it’s still not clear how this law is an end run around the Second Amendment, watch this video about how to load a fixed magazine firearm.
Loading this firearm when you’re needing it to save your life (either reloading during a firefight or loading it at the time that you are attacked or your home is broken into) is next to impossible. With the adrenaline dump into your system, the chaos of the moment, the stress, almost no one would be able to load this firearm in that kind of situation.
Which makes it, essentially, ineffective for use as a real world means of self-defense.
Which means that this law is, for all intents and purposes, a firearms ban without calling it a firearms ban.
And that’s why anti-2A advocates go for magazine restrictions if they can’t ban the gun outright.
