What purpose do these actions serve?

it is a political purpose.

I'm unclear why it is that owning a killing machine is so necessary, and I'm not a person who believes in gun control. The fact is that these killings pointed up the fact that we have the capacity to kill or wound twenty people in sixteen seconds. Courtesy of an extended magazine.

So why does that have to be a legal adjunct to owning a gun?

If he had had a gun with normal capacity less than half those people would have been hit.

And its not just liberals, unless the rest of the US has been unaffected by these needless deaths.

I mean what other purpose does this provide besides the ability to kill people more than a regular clip?

I live in hunting country, and I've never heard of anyone hunting with a Glock with an extended magazine.I mean, how bad can your aim be?

This is typical liberal thinking.....the article says..." the shooter was subdued by private citizens while he was trying to reload his weapon. Had his magazine held fewer rounds, he would have had to reload sooner than he did, and perhaps fewer people would have died as a result."

NO..... the law already says you can not shoot people and that did not slow Jared down.....why would a law saying you can not have a type of magazine slow him down? Criminals do not obey laws..... Do you liberals think that if you pass a law that you can not have a particular magazine they will all suddenly "disappear"..... that no criminal will ever get their hands on one and we are all now safe..... you need to stop smoking that stuff and face reality

Gun laws actually are responsible for more deaths at the Arizona Safeway...HOW ?......Arizona allows for conceal carry.... but Safeway does not.....they have big signs that say you can NOT carry a weapon

....it is likely many of those at the tragedy had guns..... but they obeyed the Safeway law and locked them in the trunk of their car where they were useless.... If they had been allowed to carry their weapon it is likely Jared would have been killed before he needed to reload

If I were injured in this tragedy....I would sue Safeway..... they created this tragedy with their PC rules

"The shock of having a member of Congress shot in the head at close range has led many Americans to wonder: Was it a mistake in 2004 for Congress to sunset the assault weapons ban, which, among other things, banned the manufacture or import of new magazines holding more than 10 rounds? Is it a mistake for America to have such weak firearm regulations more generally?"

It is a fair question. When politicians said we need to start paying more attention to the Middle East after 9/11/2001 did you accuse them of politicizing the tragedy? Your question is very ironic. You accuse the authors of politicizing the tragedy, but you offer no counter-argument to the substance of their article. You only offer a meta-argument about the timing. I submit that you are using a tragedy to argue your agenda. If the authors of your linked opinion piece had made this argument in absence of the Arizona tragedy, what would be your counter- argument? Do you have one? Explain to us why you need a 30 round clip for hunting/self-defense.