SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- A gun control group in the U.S. western state of Washington is urging state lawmakers to give high priority to a proposed ban on high-capacity magazines in the state, a local radio station reported Monday.
Washington's KUOW Public Radio said the gun control advocacy group, the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility (WAGR), has listed restrictions on high-capacity magazines at the top of their 2019 policy agenda.
The group threw its weight behind the proposed legislation by Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who put forward a bill that would make it illegal to buy, sell or transfer gun magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition.
High-capacity magazines are a "key factor" in shootings across Washington and the country, WAGR spokesman Tallman Trask told the radio.
When high-capacity magazines are used, "more people are shot and more people die," Trask said. But he noted that having fewer rounds of ammunition could give potential targets of mass shooters a chance to escape when the shooter reloads.
The WAGR began to campaign for a community safe from the devastating consequences of gun violence and for a culture of gun ownership that balances rights with responsibilities, following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut in December 2012.
In the massacre, a gunman fatally shot 20 children between six and seven years old, as well as six adult staff members, making the incident the deadliest mass killing at a high school in U.S. history.
Nine U.S. states and Washington, D.C. have outlawed high-capacity magazines, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
