Magazine Capacity Laws by State: What You Need to Know Before You Travel
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Cross-country driving with a firearm used to be straightforward enough. Now it's a legal obstacle course that changes every time a court issues a ruling or a state legislature goes into session.
"Somewhere around Pennsylvania, you cross into a state where everything you're carrying is now a felony. This isn't a hypothetical — it happens to people every year who assume the rules don't change at state lines."
This is the part that doesn't get enough attention at the range. Guys who are meticulous about checking zero, double-checking their carry ammo, and knowing their state statutes cold will drive right into New Jersey with a Glock 17 mag and no idea they've got a problem.
"There is no federal safe harbor law that protects magazine possession in the same way the Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986 provides some protection for firearm transport."
FOPA is the thing people reflexively cite when they think they're covered traveling through a restricted state. Magazines don't get that same protection. If you're running standard-capacity mags and your route goes through Maryland or New York, FOPA is not going to help you — and finding that out from a cop on the shoulder of I-95 is a bad time.
"If you're relying on a grandfather clause, document it. Receipts, photos, anything dated before the cutoff date helps your case if you're ever questioned."
The grandfather clause problem is real. Colorado's cutoff is 2013, Connecticut's is 2014, Massachusetts goes all the way back to 1994 — and the burden of proving continuous possession falls on you. Most people couldn't produce documentation for a magazine they've owned for a decade. Worth thinking about before you drive through one of those states confident your old mags are covered.
"Always check local ordinances, not just state law."
Boulder sitting at 10 rounds while the rest of Colorado allows 15 is exactly the kind of detail that won't come up when you Google the state law. Columbus, Ohio having a local restriction in a state with no state-level ban is even more obscure. If you're stopping somewhere specific — not just passing through — the city matters.
For those of you who travel regularly with firearms: what's your actual process for planning a route? Do you map restricted states ahead of time, leave non-compliant mags home, or just avoid certain states entirely?
Read the full article in The Handbook → | By BGC Editorial
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