diff --git a/gobject/gatomicarray.c b/gobject/gatomicarray.c
index 2c2a09cf9..d621e945f 100644
--- a/gobject/gatomicarray.c
+++ b/gobject/gatomicarray.c
@@ -110,6 +110,10 @@ _g_atomic_array_init (GAtomicArray *array)
  * This means you can use this to grow the
  * array part and it handles the first element
  * being added automatically.
+ *
+ * We don't support shrinking arrays, as if
+ * we then re-grow we may reuse an old pointer
+ * value and confuse the transaction check.
  */
 gpointer
 _g_atomic_array_copy (GAtomicArray *array,
@@ -119,11 +123,6 @@ _g_atomic_array_copy (GAtomicArray *array,
   guint8 *new, *old;
   gsize old_size, new_size;
 
-  /* We don't support shrinking arrays, as if
-     we then re-grow we may reuse an old pointer
-     value and confuse the transaction check. */
-  g_assert (additional_element_size >= 0);
-
   G_LOCK (array);
   old = g_atomic_pointer_get (&array->data);
   if (old)