Should we carry an extra magazine?

[epantoja]

Just saw a recap of a 20/20 story about a Texas man named Raul Rodriguez, who was convicted of murder after confronting a neighbor having a loud party. The man had a concealed handgun license and used the “Stand your ground law” as his defense.

I don’t want to get into whether he was justified or not for shooting his neighbor. That’s not the reason behind this post. I rather talk about the fact that he was carrying an extra magazine with him at the time of the shooting. In the interview, the 20/20 reporter Chris Cuomo kept emphasizing how Rodriguez had a handgun and a “lot” of ammo that night. Apparently the fact this man had an extra magazine with him at the time of his arrest was viewed negatively at his trial.

Now my question is what exactly can be considered a “lot” of ammo? Can carrying an extra magazine be potentially harmful to someone after a shooting? Should we stop carrying an extra mag and be content with what the gun holds, only to avoid serious prosecution? I want to see your opinions on this subject.

 

[growr]

I carry exactly the same as LEO's do....1 in the gun and 2 spare for the same reasons.

Things happen and the magazine is the weakest spot on a semi auto.

Randy

 

[P&R Fan]

Massad Ayoob has written about this. He cites cases where this issue was brought up in court giving the CCW holder a "Rambo" look. In an auto pistol if there is a malfunction often changing magazines is the best recourse. Of course having extra ammo is never a bad thing. The off duty LEO at the Trolley Square mall shooting only had one mag for his 1911. He really wished he had a reload.
I always carry at least one spare Glock mag. Better to have and not need, than to need and not have.
Jim

 

[SMSgt]

If you're unlucky, your mag will fail. If you're really, really lucky, the BG will stand down while you replace it.

Carry whatever you feel you need. It's about you, not everyone else. Some folks I know carry a 5-shot revolver, others carry an ammo wagon to get a gallon of milk.

 

[duppie]

We can't carry in my state but just 2 points....I believe that this late in the game the antis believe anything more than 7 rounds is "a lot" and that being the case, if your firearm does have more?.....I say pack an extra mag, "In for a penny ...in for a pound".

 

[nachogrande]

extra mags

NO, carry 3 spare mags it helps to balance the wt side to side. a good prosecutor and a gullible jury could turn anything against you.

 

[Arik]

I dont always carry extra mags but i do carry them. No different then an extra speed loader. I dont like being told by un informed what i should feel safe with.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

 

[Poodle Soup]

You already have a smoking gun in your hand and a dead person on the ground.... its already bad. But having an empty gun and more people coming after you would be a lot worse.

 

[jlrhiner]

Ignoring the back story and answering the question.

Magazines are mechanical devices and can fail. Always carry a back up.

 

[shouldazagged]

I carry a five-shot J-frame, sometimes with one Bianchi Speed Strip, sometimes not. One of my several reasons for choosing a revolver is that it can't drop a magazine.

The legalities or how it looks in court doesn't really concern me. It's what I'm comfortable with. I suspect that if I need more than five, or at most ten rounds, I'm likely toast anyway.

My guess is that an old guy with a five-shot .38 Special is unlikely to be regarded as any kind of ninja wannabe or trained assassin by an uninformed jury, or convicted in a justifiable shooting.

Civil court, of course, is a whole other matter.

 

[cmort666]

When I carry a semi-auto, I always carry at least one extra magazine, and for the reasons others have cited.

A semi-auto without a functional magazine is a really crappy single shot. I wouldn't go into a gunfight with a Contender. Why risk going into a gun fight with something potentially inferior to a Contender?

 

[sipowicz]

You can balance it out by always wearing a Ghandi or peace symbol t-shirt when carrying. An Obama shirt would work too but I could never bring myself to wearing that..

 

[SMSgt]

Sipowicz is ill, folks. Ignore that last post!

 

[M29since14]

...a good prosecutor and a gullible jury could turn anything against you.

Maybe an over-zealous prosecutor. I think it is possible that "too much equipment" could turn not only a jury but prosecutor and police against you too. It seems that way in my neck of the woods. "Carrying what the police carry" always leaves one open to the wisecrack that, "Mr. Blank, you are no police officer." There's a million ways to look at it so you might as well rely on what you are comfortable with and hope for the best. I can say wouldn't rely on one of Sip's t-shirts.

 

[nachogrande]

guess someone took my post a little too literally. I should have worded it "a convincing prosecutor." a good shoot SHOULD be ruled as such regardless of how many (within reason) mags the person is wearing. and I did have a custom 3 mag carrier made for a shoulder rig for the purpose of balance, now they are not uncommon. but I'm not telling anyone what to do. God forbid you shoot someone with an evil BLACK TALON instead of the NERF bullets that make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside when shot.

 

[GLV]

Yes--if you do not carry at least one extra

magazine--Mr. Murphy will bite bite you in a tender area.

 

[walkin' trails]

Ignoring the back story and answering the question.

Magazines are mechanical devices and can fail. Always carry a back up.

Exactly!!! Forget trying to explain anymore in depth that that. There are plenty of experts out there who would back you up if that was your statement, and I'm sure Massad Ayoob is one of them.

Now considering the back story: stay out of stupid, no-win situations that you could have otherwise prevented by staying home and calling the police. That way, you won't have to explain why two or three magazines for your Shield is a "lot" of ammo.

 

[Protected One]

Just saw a recap of a 20/20 story about a Texas man named Raul Rodriguez, who was convicted of murder after confronting a neighbor having a loud party. The man had a concealed handgun license and used the “Stand your ground law” as his defense.

I don’t want to get into whether he was justified or not for shooting his neighbor. That’s not the reason behind this post. I rather talk about the fact that he was carrying an extra magazine with him at the time of the shooting. In the interview, the 20/20 reporter Chris Cuomo kept emphasizing how Rodriguez had a handgun and a “lot” of ammo that night. Apparently the fact this man had an extra magazine with him at the time of his arrest was viewed negatively at his trial.

Now my question is what exactly can be considered a “lot” of ammo? Can carrying an extra magazine be potentially harmful to someone after a shooting? Should we stop carrying an extra mag and be content with what the gun holds, only to avoid serious prosecution? I want to see your opinions on this subject.

Would you rather be faced with a situation that requires a round or two more than your guns magazine holds, or explain to a jury how that extra mag saved your life?

 

[nachogrande]

extra mags

the media that mostly seems to know jack squat about guns is always gonna be coming up with something stupid to try and make us look bad. can't concern yourselves with them imo. in a real life live or die self defense situation, rule #1 STAY ALIVE by any means at your disposal. rule #2 REFER TO RULE#1. if you can't accomplish rule #1, who cares.

 

[COL Jagdog]

I think I have solved that problem -- instead of carrying 3 extra magazines, I carry a bandolier with 30 extra rounds -- the re-load does not go quite as fast but thankfully, the bad guy, struck with awe at what he is seeing (a gentleman re-loading his empty magazine one round at a time) usually calls a parley (we still have chivalrous bad guys in the Deep South) until I can get my magazine reloaded and he won't start shooting until I begin to insert said reloaded magazine into the magazine well.

My court argument goes this way: "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,
I was only carrying one bandolier with 30 extra rounds, the other loops
of my 50-loop bandolier were filled with Tootsie Rolls and Salt Water Taffy rolls ("for the children") -- gets them every time, the womenfolk all teary-eyed, the menfolk fidgeting (actually the men are thinking "what a doofus, he could have been killed trying to re-load his magazine from the bandolier, he should have just carried 3 extra magazines").

Nah, as long as you are not carring a bag with 20 extra magazines, you will probably be ok carrying the standard re-load of 2 or 3 magazines.