This is just a quick reply to put out a couple of thoughts that I had on reading the original post. I haven't read the thread, but will go through it later when I have more time. So, if I say something that's been covered, I apologize in advance.
1. In the 22 high profile mass shootings since the AWB was lifted, 20 of them used 30 round magazines or higher.
If you have any links to this list of shootings, I'd appreciate if you could provide a link. I've seen many, many lists of mass shootings lately, from all kinds of sources, and no two lists are the same.
I think this is important in framing the discussion. We need to be able to agree on what constitutes as mass shooting. The FBI definition of a mass murder is 9 or more people killed in one event at one location. However, that doesn't necessarily work for the discussion. For example, the Oregon mall shooter only managed to shoot a smaller number of people, but his intent was clear. Or, for example, a man shot his wife and several of he friends in another event, but we don't know that his motivation was general mayhem or premeditated murder against just those people (or anyone he had to go through to get to them). (That event was on one list and I don't think had nine victims. So, it would have been disqualified by the strict definition anyway.)
2. The easiest time to take down the shooter is when he is trying to reload. This was most notable in the case of Jared Loughner. Loughner was tackled while trying to reload his rifle. If he had less bullets in the original magazine, lives would have been saved on that occasion.
While things worked out this way in the Arizona shooting, and they have at other shootings, they don't always work out this way. Someone has to take the first step. That's psychologically hard to do. Mostly, people react like deer in the headlights in the face of an unexpected outbreak of violence. Once they see someone else react, they get validation for their urge to act and follow along. There's a name for this phenomena, though I can't think of it off the top of my head, but it's a very real thing. This means that it is a
rare event.
Given the rarity of mass shootings, and the further rarity of unarmed civilians stopping a shooter during a reload, I'd have to say that this is a flawed argument. Very flawed. I may be proven wrong by that list of mass shootings since the AWB. How many more besides the AZ shooter were taken out by unarmed citizens while reloading? How does that compare to the number who were stopped by armed resistance from a civilian, security guard (still a civilian, but listed b/c some people don't view them as such), or off duty police officer (basically as well-equipped to deal with the situation as any other concealed carrier)?
Lives might have been saved in the Aurora shooting as well.
Did you know that the 100 round drum magazine used in Aurora malfunctioned? The shooter was not tackled by anyone. I believe most of his victims were shot by his handgun, but I'd have to fact check that.
And there are more examples.
As stated above, please provide these.