Some CLIPS hold cartridges, not paper.
This is a picture of empty CLIPS:
This is a picture of CLIPS loaded with cartridges:
You are correct. However, the “clip” I was speaking to is the image that the media has in its collective mind: a 30-round magazine... loaded with special child-sensing, armor-piercing bullets that go off on their own, no doubt.
The existence of the type of clip you reference is so far above the comprehensive ability of the average journalist, that we should probably include in an article titled “ADVANCED Guide To Writing About Firearms”.
Oh how I love the M1 Garand Clip. TINGGGGGGGGGGGGG!