[JURIST] The Los Angeles City Council [official website] on Tuesday passed [roll call] an ordinance [text, PDF] banning high-capacity gun magazines. The new rule will take effect in one year and provides a 60-day widow to allow citizens to legally turn over their high-capacity magazines. According to the new ordinance, a high-capacity magazine is defined as “any detachable ammunition feeding device with the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds.” While it is a misdemeanor to possess the magazines, the new rule provides exemptions for a person who is a federal or state employee whose job entails the use of certain firearms.

Gun control has been the center of attention since the Newtown, Connecticut, shooting in December 2012. Last December the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled [JURIST report] that a law prohibiting individuals who have been committed to a mental institution for any amount of time from possessing a firearm is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment. This court was the first to strike down a federal gun law under the Second Amendment since the Supreme Court [official website] effectively struck down [opinion] Washington, DC’s ban on firearm ownership six years ago. However, mass shootings in Colorado, Connecticut and elsewhere have spurred some state legislatures to create and adopt gun control laws. In August a federal judge for the US District Court for the District of Maryland [official website] upheld [JURIST report] portions of Maryland’s gun control law, which banned certain types of “assault weapons” and a limited gun magazines to 10 rounds, explaining that the law served a legitimate government interest of ensuring public safety. In June a judge for the US District Court for the District of Colorado [official website] upheld [JURIST report] two Colorado statutes that expanded mandatory background checks and banned high capacity magazines.