Clip vs. Magazine and other pending legislation
Some point soon, there will be legislation regarding gun control sent across the desks of everyone in congress. There are many different ideas about what it should include or if it should exist at all. All I will say on the topic is that I do believe the 2nd amendment should exist (I cannot confirm nor deny if I practice it). However, it’s important to frame certain terminology in the right way. Some say things like clip vs. magazine: what is the difference? Or why do you need an assault rifle? A lot of this is all made up terms by anti-gun government officials. Sometimes it’s even laughable to here them mis-used. I hope that this post adds to the many that helps the public, and even congress get these terms right.
The Difference

The easiest way for me to illustrate the difference between a clip and a magazine is with a picture. This picture shows 60 rounds, 30 in clips, and 30 loaded into a magazine. Clips are on the left, they hold 10 rounds. The magazine on the right holds 30 rounds. In this case, these are for an SKS, 7.62×39 rifle. The stripper clips are used to load the rifle, and the magazine is what holds the loaded rounds. Equipping an SKS with a 30 round magazine, or loading it with stripper clips may, to some, constitute it as an assault rifle. The SKS is not an assault rifle. I’ll explain why.
Not an Assault Rifle
For starters, it makes for a great hiking gone for deer hunting and has the so called ‘sporting’ use. Secondly, in it’s default form (although there are aftermarket stocks for it), it’s got a brown wooden stock and hardly looks like an ‘evil black’ assault rifle. However, generally speaking, the SKS, or at least a lot of accessories for it would be banned under some proposed legislation.
As you can see above, clips are already 10 rounds. The default configuration of an SKS is 10 rounds. However, since the SKS is semi-automatic (important of a ‘hiking’ gun), all the rounds are ejected after firing. To reload it, all one needs to do is take a clip, attach it to the gun and push the cartridges down (not bullets (the metal pointy part that flies out the barrel) or shell/case (case being better, the steel or brass part which holds the bullet, powder, and primer at the bottom). With clips the SKS can be reloaded in seconds.
Short Conclusion
If anything, a 30 round magazine delats reloading, since there is more to reload. In either case, banning either a clip or a magazine of a certain size does nothing. When one human shoots another, they are already committing a crime. Trying to justify new laws to stop those that already break existing ones should not make sense to anyone.