The news reports claim the gunman fired on the order of 250 rounds, and witnesses said he would calmly and methodically reload, taking a minute or so each time. Since it takes only a few seconds to swap magazines, this would imply that the killer may have actually taken the time to reload magazines. Certainly he had plenty of time, as no police rushed the building and the victims followed protocol and stayed in place.
Would the number of bullets per magazine have mattered? In my opinion, no. Just like the Columbine killers, the guy was able to enter the school building laden down with a tactical vest, a backpack full of magazines, and enough chain to block off the doors. That's a lot of gear to carry. So how much damage would he have been able to commit if he had instead carried in a 5-gallon bucket full to the brim with 1911 style . 45 ACP mags, topped up with only 7 rounds each? I suspect the outcome would have been the same - he would have killed as many people as he wanted to, until he got tired of killing them and decided to take his own life.
It is perhaps worth remembering that the worst mass murder in US history, not counting terrorist actions, was committed with a gallon of gas at a nightclub in New York. Would the outcome have been different if the murderer had been limited to pint bottles, or a slow-pour gas can? Unlikely.
It is not the tool that needs to be addressed. High capacity 9mm pistols and magazines have been available to the public since John Browning's famous Browning Hi-Power came out in the 1930's. For 30 years anybody could buy one mail order if they wanted to, even kids. Kids could actually carry guns to school, in fact many schools had rifle ranges and shooting clubs -- yet we didn't have mass murders at the school. What changed? Bluntly put, it was our culture.
50 years ago the USA was a thoroughly homogeneous nation with a 90% white majority. The population was pretty diverse in some areas (particularly the big cities), but we shared a pretty uniform set of standards as to what it meant to be an American. People spoke English. Kids were expected to behave, and disciplined harshly if they didn't. Kids who were bullied could fight back without fear of being expelled or criminally charged for fighting right alongside the aggressor. Things worked pretty darned well for the most part.
Then in the 1960's we changed our immigration law, and the Baby Boomer generation changed how we look at the role of the individual in the nation. Instead of self-reliance and independence, we devoted ourselves to self absorption and decadence, "If it feels good do it. " Over the next 30 years we made lots of idiotic decisions about our society. We abandoned the kids to the idiot box and the babysitter so Mom and Dad could pursue their own pleasures in an endless quest to remain teenagers forever. We quit disciplining them because it was too much trouble and possibly mean and hurtful. We started treating bully and victim identically, because it might be unfair to single out one and make value judgements. We took areas that had been homogeneous and forced in multiculturalism, developing the incredible ability to be surprised every day when the clash of cultures produced strife between different groups of people. Why, who'd-a thunk that different groups of people would squabble amongst themselves, just because thousands of years of recorded history demonstrate it over and over and over again?
After 30 years of relentless deconstruction, American society went into labor and gave birth to a twisted freak - Columbine. In predictable fashion, we agonized over what caused it - high capacity magazines, violent video games, Gothic makeup, Adolf Hitler - surely there was something, ANYTHING that we could blame... . something that didn't involve putting the blame squarely where it lies, on our own stupidity and cowardice. The stupidity of purposefully changing our nation for the worse in a fit of Kumbayah liberal feel-goodery, and the cowardice of refusing to give our children the loving homes and disciplined schools they need.
And while we sit here debating these topics, the deconstruction of our society continues apace. We continue to import MORE diversity and more division and cultural strife, while encouraging the further decay of our society and the American family. We satiate ourselves with bread and circuses, as our leaders do a stunningly modern imitation of Nero fiddling while Rome burns.
Perhaps, God willing, we will someday have the courage and wisdom to face up to the bitter reality of our policies: We are very unlikely to see things get better, when we go out of our way to make things worse.