Police investigating David Gregory for displaying illegal gun clip on-air

[dkf]

The Washington Metropolitan Police Department is investigating “Meet the Press” host David Gregory for a potential violation of the District of Columbia’s gun laws, a spokesman for the department confirmed to The Hill.

While interviewing National Rifle Association (NRA) CEO Wayne LaPierre on Sunday, Gregory held up what appeared to be a 30-round magazine to ask if it should be banned. The cartridge is illegal in Washington, D.C., where “Meet the Press” is filmed.


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/274515-police-investigating-nbcs-david-gregory-for-displaying-illegal-gun-clip-on-air

[realgreen]

1. He was doing something good

Only someone irrational would want him punished for that.

[still_one]

2. Didn't see the interview so I cannot comment on the value, however, I would suspect if he was

showing a clip to make a point, and not using the clip, that doesn't sound that they would have a valid case against him or NBC

[AtheistCrusader]

17. Simple possession is against the law.

Akin to a journalist holding up a pound of weed on air to make some point.

The DEA has no sense of humor, and neither do DC Police.

[tularetom]

4. I guess you'd have to call me irrational

Unfortunately he is getting busted for one of the few moments on air when he appeared to have a vestige of a spine.

But I'm just glad the slimy bastard is getting busted for something although in the long run I'm pretty sure nothing will come of it.

[malaise]

32. If it is illegal he should not have it - period n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. So how do you feel about this?

[dkf]

7. I think whoever arranged that at MTP is in trouble.

I'm not sure how he pleads ignorance as everyone knows how strict DC gun laws are. They weren't thinking.

On the other hand, is there an exemption for TV news? Can they be in possession of illegal drugs or instance and get a pass?

[slampoet]

14. Don't you recall George HW Bush Holding up a big bag of Crack in his White House speech?

He even said that police bought it on the Washington Mall.

[JI7]

15. i bet he got it from W

[dballance]

5. This is right up there with Janet's bare boob moment on the scale of things...

On the scale of things police need to use their time for this is just silly. In DC I'm sure they have more than enough gang violence and drug issues to be concerned about rather than a TV anchor making a point by showing a clip with 30 rounds.

[backscatter712]

6. Strange... I would have thought movie-makers & broadcasters would have an exemption.

Surely, movie-making companies, TV networks & what not have exceptions written in the law so they can film shootouts for whatever action flicks they're making. Couldn't Gregory's display of an ammo magazine have fallen under that exception? He does work for a corporation that creates a lot of action flicks.

Even in the UK, where firearms are mostly banned, there's provisions for entertainment companies to use weapons when filming action flicks - I remember in V for Vendetta, they had to jump through a bunch of hoops to stay legal - they bar-coded the sub-machine guns that the Norsefire stormtroopers were brandishing in the flick, so they can track all of them, make sure they're accounted for, and that none of them disappear to the black market.

[Recursion]

41. NBC applied for an exemption and was denied

The magazines you see in movies aren't real, for the most part.

[baldguy]

8. But if he showed an actual gun it would have been OK.

This country's priorities are extremely fucked up.

[OldDem2012]

9. Good grief. What a pile of crap. Don't the police have enough to investigate....

Last edited Wed Dec 26, 2012, 02:44 AM - Edit history (1)

....without going after a journalist (I use that term VERY loosely for Gregory) who was, perhaps for the very first time, doing what he is paid to do?

[Earth_First]

10. It needed to be done...

LaPierre just didn't like the hot seat.

I did not see the story, but methinks that this is NRA retribution for addressing the gun control issue.

[jal777]

11. Good

He broke the law, deal with the consequences.

[Earth_First]

12. He broke the law in order to engage in a national dialog on gun control...

Perhaps your skull is too thick to understand why this was done.

[ManiacJoe]

13. But it still does not excuse the violation of the law.

[DollarBillHines]

24. What 'violation'? It was a fucking prop.

What if it was just a shell - no platform, no spring?

Good luck on any action with NBC legal division pissing down the DA's gullet.

What a fucking joke.

I am sure that NBC would welcome the spotlight against pencil-dick NRA.

[nadinbrzezinski]

26. You do realize the entertainment division

Of NBC films with props all the time? They got these prop permits on file with PD

PD is wasting their time, serious. Or mostly going through the motions due to some idiots.

[ManiacJoe]

31. Could be.

[randome]

39. That's what I was thinking.

[Indydem]

16. Well as long as he broke the law for a good reason!

As we all know, that is the metric by which we weight the law, the REASON behind breaking it.

[-..__...]

20. And if arrested, charged and tried...

Jurors have the option of nullifying the charges against him... as it should be.

However... police, investigators, prosecutors do have an obligation to uphold the law.

If the evidence supports it... Gregory should be, and needs to be arrested.

His purpose, reason and status is irrelevant prior to any trial.

[AtheistCrusader]

18. I'm in favor of decriminalization.

I'd still laugh at a journalist stupid enough to hold up a pound of weed on live TV without explicit permission/oversight of the police.

[DollarBillHines]

23. Get a fucking grip

It was a prop.

Get a fucking grip.

It was theater.

Take some laxative, maybe you will feel better in the morning.

Get that O'Reilly - Limbaugh out of your packed colon.

[WilliamPitt]

29. Derp.

[SCVDem]

19. Try proving it wasn't a prop.

Next the police will come everytime someone on TV gets shot.

Good luck with that!

[copperearth]

21. Got an idea what these people can do with their petition-

Use it for toliet paper! What David Gregory was attempting to do was to illustrate to the publice what these 30-bullet magazines look like. They look so innoscent but they are so deadly. Yes, guns don't fire themselves but people do and that is something LaPierre refuses to admit!

[WCGreen]

22. That's where they draw the line....

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. It will stop once they

get the gun wrangler and prop handler. Have fun with the lawyers.

[Bozita]

27. This is the most *INFUCKINGSANE* thing I've read in years!

Maybe after a good night's sleep, I'll wake up to find this is a fucking joke.

[Bucky]

28. If I was a cop, I'd be worried about people having weaponry around LaPierre, too

That said, this is probably good for Gregory's career and might be just a PR stunt.

[WilliamPitt]

30. George H.W. Bush held up a bag of crack on TV once

Jail 'im.

For that, I mean.

[Raine]

33. Jesus Christ, give me a breaking ... how fucking RIDICULOUS! nt

[Capt. Obvious]

34. Righties are in an uproar over this

Despite their hatred of the liberal media.

[Bohunk68]

35. He's a rich, white, non-gay

male friend of the Republicans. Nothing to see here. Move along. The laws do not apply!! He wouldn't even be stop and frisked in NYC.

[Buns_of_Fire]

36. I suspect it'll be a very short investigation.

A couple of calls to the producer, a couple of calls to NBC legal, maybe a representative dropping by to look at it, and that'll be the end of it.

For all one could tell on the screen, it might have been a non-operational 3D-printed magazine painted with a can of flat-black Rustoleum. Or carved, or plastic, or whatever.

Damned good thing he didn't show a nipple at the same time, though. That's a hangin' offense in these parts, pardner.

[backscatter712]

42. It'll probably be the buck-passing variant of the Chewbacca defense.

Once the defense attorneys get everyone's stories straight, Gregory will say "I thought my producer took care of the legalities!" The producer will say "I thought props took care of it!" The props people will say "I thought legal took care of it!" Legal will say "I thought PR took care of it!" PR will say "I thought the producer took care of it!"

Lather, rinse, repeat, nobody in particular will be able to be pinned with actual responsibility, so the cops will just give an Official Wag Of The Finger and drop it.

[Fla_Democrat]

37. The funniest thing about this to me is....

How different I know the reaction would be if it had been LaPierre holding up the magazine. There would be howls of outrage, calls for his imprisonment, demands that Eric Holder, personally puts the cuffs on him. And yes, the other side would be echoing the chant here, it was a prop, no one could seriously see it as an infraction.

It never gets old... but, it does get predictable.

[Lurker Deluxe]

38. Simple enough

Pretty sure that no charges would be filed, but a couple of questions would be in order.

The first of them, "where did you get this?"

If we want to ban magazines of certain capacities, than when one of them shows up somewhere it would seem the proper thing to do is find out where the hell it came from. Does not seem unreasonable to me.

[mike dub]

40. The authorities in the District need to relax

Surely they have bigger fish-to-fry.

To paraphrase Ferris Bueller: "Stick a lump of coal in a certain collective orifice of a certain city's police dept and in one week you'd have a DIAMOND".