Phil Bryant, Mississippi Governor: Criminals Can Get High-Capacity Magazines From 'Soviet Union'

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R) dismissed a proposed ban on high-capacity magazines, citing a nonexistent country as a way criminals could circumvent it.

"If they want a 30-round clip, they're going to get it out of Brazil or the Soviet Union," Bryant said Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. "It's going to go on the black market. Self-protecting citizens won't have that right, but criminals will."

The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, and prohibited firearms. Its successor state, Russia, allows hunting rifles and "compliance weapons" but also has a growing gun-rights movement.

Bryant urged legislators Wednesday to pass a measure exempting Mississippi from the president's executive actions before they were even announced. "I am asking that you immediately pass legislation that would make any unconstitutional order by the President illegal to enforce in Mississippi by state or local law enforcement," he wrote in a letter.