High-capacity magazines make shootings deadlier not only because they allow shooters to fire more rounds faster, but also because they inflict more severe injuries. That’s why it is clear that prohibiting high-capacity magazines will reduce gun injury and death in our state.

Dr. Fred Rivara is director of the Firearm Injury and Policy Research Program at Harborview and a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He has been studying gun violence for over three decades. Last year, in the Senate Law and Justice Committee, he explained simply how excessively large capacity magazines worsen gun violence and strain hospitals: “Physicians and our trauma centers, including Harborview, are seeing more severe injuries and are able to save fewer victims because they are shot multiple times by assailants using these high-capacity magazines.” You can see his full testimony here.

Please email your state senator to save lives from gun violence. Our thanks to our colleagues at the Alliance for Gun Responsibility for their leadership on these bills.