Victims’ parents, gun rights advocates lobby legislators on high-capacity magazines

Parents whose children were killed in mass shootings urged legislators on Monday to approve a bill restricting firearm ammunition magazines to 10 bullets or less.

April Schentrup’s daughter, Carmen, died in 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

“Carmen was a beautiful, caring, funny, brilliant and musically talented 16-year-old senior. She dreamed of going to the prom, attending college to become a medical researcher, finding a cure for ALS and having a family of her own.

“But on Valentine’s Day in 2018, a former student with an AR-15 and high-capacity magazines quickly ended Carmen’s dreams. Carmen’s shooter was able to kill 17 students and staff, and wound 17 more within a matter of seconds. Carrying 300 rounds of ammunition, he hoped to carry out his dream -- committing a mass shooting,” she told the Washington state Senate Law and Justice Committee.

Schentrup, who now lives in the Seattle area, said the shooter’s high-capacity magazines meant he didn’t have to stop shooting to reload. If the shooter had not had access to high-capacity magazines, there could have been time to attack him as he reloaded, she said. A Florida commission that investigated the shooting said law enforcement recovered eight 30- and 40-round capacity magazines.

A similar bill did not get a vote last year and it’s unclear whether there are enough votes to approve SB 6077, sponsored by Sen. Patty Kuderer, D-Bellevue.

At Monday’s hearing, Keely Hopkins, a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action, opposed the bill, saying it “falsely redefines” standard-capacity magazines as “high capacity.”

“Magazines holding more than 10 rounds are the standard, manufacturer-supplied capacity that make up the majority” of firearms, she said. They are the firearms that Washington residents commonly rely on for “personal protection,” so the bill would restrict the ability of people to defend themselves, Hopkins said.

Jane Milhans, a University Place resident, also opposed the bill. She said she survived a home invasion by two men several years ago. The incident led her to become a certified firearms instructor, and she volunteers to train women.

“It’s a woman’s right to own firearms for personal protection because it levels the fight between her and her attackers. I cannot fight two men with my hands.

“Elderly women, women with arthritis or women who are disabled, they cannot operate those smaller pistols that hold less than 10 rounds. Physically, they can’t do it. They need a standard-capacity firearm which holds on average 15 rounds or more,” she said.

Jim Parsons’ daughter, Carrie, was fatally shot by a mass shooter in 2017 as she attended a concert in Las Vegas. She was returning to her Seattle home from a business trip and stopped in Las Vegas to visit friends.

The shooter purchased more than 18 assault weapons, of which 16 had magazines of 25 or 100 rounds each, in the months leading up to the incident. On Oct. 1, 2017, the shooter fired nearly 1,100 rounds into a crowd of 20,000 in less than 10 minutes, with 100-round magazines emptied in just over 10 seconds, Parsons told the committee.

“Our daughter was 31 years old and graduated from Arizona State University,” Parsons told the Senate committee, his voice breaking with emotion. “Carrie lived life joyfully, made friends wherever she went. She loved her Seattle job, her Seahawks and her Mariners. And Carrie was just engaged to be married to a wonderful young man.”

Parsons said mass shooters “seek fame by death count — and weapons with high-capacity magazines continue as the choice to inflict maximum casualties,” he said.

Ami Strahan of Spokane told the committee how her 15-year-old son, Sam, was shot and killed at Freeman High School in 2017 by a fellow student who had two guns. She said the shooter’s AR-15 rifle, which was equipped with a high-capacity magazine, jammed so he had to use a pistol instead. Three other students were seriously injured.

“Fortunately, Sam was the only loss of life. While I find myself saying thank goodness he was the only one, I also can’t fathom that that sentence has become acceptable in 2020. When did it become OK that one kid died? I lost part of my soul and I’m still struggling to recover,” she said.

Schentrup said after Carmen’s death, she, her husband Phillip, and their youngest daughter moved to Washington state in hopes of healing.

“Each day has moments of emptiness without Carmen, but Washington brings us hope. To know that this state Legislature last year passed several gun-safety bills gives me hope. I hope that my testimony today helps you pass SB 6077 to restrict high-capacity magazines so that other families do not suffer the same devastating loss,” she said.

This story was originally published January 21, 2020 at 5:45 AM with the headline "Victims’ parents, gun rights advocates lobby legislators on high-capacity magazines."