Gun control for thee, but not for me: "Detective wanted arrest warrant for NBC's David Gregory"

[friendly_iconoclast]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/01/24/detective-wanted-arrest-warrant-for-nbcs-david-gregory/22275317/

Detective wanted arrest warrant for NBC's David Gregory

Yamiche Alcindor, USA TODAY 5:36 p.m. EST January 24, 2015

The controversy over former NBC anchor David Gregory's display of a high capacity gun magazine got new legs this week.

An affidavit shows a Washington Metropolitan Police Department detective requested an arrest warrant for Gregory, according to Conservative website Legal Insurrection. In December 2012, the then host of NBC's "Meet the Press" broke the district's laws by waving the 30-round ammunition magazine at the network's studio during an interview...

...According to the affidavit, a NBC editor exchanged several e-mails with authorities who informed the editor that possessing the magazine would violate the law and be a misdemeanor. Police recommended using a photo instead of the magazine during the interview.

Gregory later displayed the magazine. In response, police investigated the incident. And, Wayne Gerrish, a Washington Metropolitan Police Department detective, requested an arrest warrant for Gregory. It was declined in January 2013.

Of course it was declined- Gregory wasn't one of "those people..."

[jen1980]

1. So they don't believe in the first amendment!

Thanks for proving that!

[Duckhunter935]

4. should have done as he was instructed

hold up a picture, do not break the law if another option is available.

[gejohnston]

5. What does it have to do with the first amendment?

He is free to talk about them all he wanted. Was Adam Kokesh's first amendment rights violated? Or does it apply only for those you agree?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Kokesh#2013_gun_protest_and_arrest

He should have been prosecuted to the fullest extent as the non celebrity. who had an empty shotgun shell in his house. The real reason had nothing to do with first amendment. The real reason is because of Gregory's wealth and his wife's friendship with the DC district attorney.

Rights come with responsibilities, as gun control activists like to say. If Gregory was claiming to be a journalist, why didn't he follow the journalistic ethics code when it comes to being objective and not being a propagandist for one side or the other? Granted, none of them actually follow it.
http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp

[tularetom]

2. I'd like to see David Gregory behind bars as much as the next guy

But to arrest him for something as stupid as this is a joke. Possession of a 30 round magazine a crime? What's he gonna do, hit somebody over the head with it?

Look, I get that the guy who requested the warrant is trying to make a point and I don't disagree with it. But there's no way this will go anywhere, Gregory's buddies in the media will treat it as a publicity stunt.

[Duckhunter935]

3. should have been a very stiff fine

and confiscation of the illegal magazine

[Lurks Often]

6. The point is Gregory should not have been treated any differently then the rest of us

It's a stupid law, but since D.C. chooses to prosecute people without any influence or resources for similar offenses, Gregory should have been prosecuted as well.

[tularetom]

7. I get it, I get it and I agree with you

But do you think anybody other than those of us who follow this stuff are going to pay any attention to it?

Do you have any statistics regarding the number of ordinary citizens that the DC government has actually prosecuted for possession of an oversize magazine? There's no background check required to purchase one in a neighboring state, so how is anybody going to find out if a DC resident has bought one.

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe somebody in a position to change things will see this and realize what a dumbass law this is. But I doubt it.

[Lurks Often]

8. Sources acceptable to DU generally don't report stories like this

but with that stated........

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/warning-d.c.-cops-under-orders-to-arrest-tourists-with-empty-bullet-casings/article/2535216

[Duckhunter935]

10. thats idiotic

I guess that is what you get when you need the revenue or people with absolutely no knowledge write the laws. Or both!

[Lurks Often]

15. No, it's what you get when you have a Mayor & City Council that want complete control

over people.

Washington D.C., like NYC, is a place to avoid even driving through if you are in possession of a firearm or ammo or even a pocket knife if the blade is too long.


*IIRC a pocket knife with a blade more then 2 1/2" is illegal in NYC. Under 4" seems to be common in most other states that I am aware of.

[virginia mountainman]

9. Posted it when he did it, posting it again now...still true!

[Neon Gods]

12. Jail? For a misdemeanor?

Harsh!

[Neon Gods]

11. If Gregory knew he was breaking the law he should be arrested.

As long as he isn't being singled out because of who he is (which is what I suspect). Would the DC police arrest a person sitting on their front porch with the same magazine, with no firearm present, in his hand? I tend to doubt it. The cop would inform the person that the magazine is illegal and might confiscate it, but I doubt there would be an arrest.

[gejohnston]

13. no he wouldn't be singled out

Would the DC police arrest a person sitting on their front porch with the same magazine, with no firearm present, in his hand?

That same DA, who is friends with Gregory's wife has done pretty close to that. One kind of famous case is Mark Witaschek who got two years for an inert shotgun shell and empty casing, and no gun.
Tell you what, get your self pulled over in DC and have said magazine visible to the cop. Let us know how it goes. I think you will find that assumption would be wrong.

[Neon Gods]

16. Anecdotal evidence

One incident. Being pulled over while driving is different from my scenario because presumably the cop pulling me over is doing so for a reason unrelated to the magazine on my front seat, and it usually ends up in the officer writing a ticket. To strengthen the case, and insure I don't decide to fight it (requiring the officer to appear in court), cops include as many infractions as possible when they write someone up - so sure they would probably cite me and confiscate the magazine.

I personally think those calling for Gregory's arrest are doing so for political reasons. But he did break the law. If he knew ahead of time he was breaking the law then he surely weighed the consequences beforehand and felt, on balance it was worth the risk.

Possession is a misdemeanor, right? What is the penalty for a misdemeanor, first offense?

[gejohnston]

17. in this case

$1000 fine and a year in jail.

[Neon Gods]

19. How many have been fined $1,000 and gone to jail

For this offense?

[friendly_iconoclast]

20. Why should *anyone* be fined and/or sent to jail for possesing one of these things?

Especially since possesing the functional equivalent (i.e. 3 ten round magazines) is just peachy
keen?

This is a 'beer keg law', designed to placate the credulous into thinking The Authorities Are
Doing Something

[beevul]

22. How many times does it need to happen for it to cross the threshold into "wrong"? N/T

[Straw Man]

14. "As God is my witness, officer ..."

Would the DC police arrest a person sitting on their front porch with the same magazine, with no firearm present, in his hand? I tend to doubt it. The cop would inform the person that the magazine is illegal and might confiscate it, but I doubt there would be an arrest.

Such charming naiveté. There most definitely would be an arrest -- unless, or course, the hypothetical porch-sitter were wealthy, white, and well-connected. The "I didn't know" excuse generally doesn't get one too far outside those parameters.

[Neon Gods]

18. And you know this for a fact, how?

Do you live in DC (I live two miles outside DC)? Do you think understaffed urban police forces have the resources to arrest everyone that breaks a law? My gut tells me that in DC the possession of a high capacity magazine without a firearm present and no indication that the bearer of the magazine has any criminal intent is not going to result in arrest unless the cops need that arrest for some other reason. You think differently. Fine, we disagree. Why do you assume your opinion is superior to mine?

[friendly_iconoclast]

21. Then why have this law at all?

[beevul]

23. "Do you think understaffed urban police forces have the resources to arrest everyone that..."

"Do you think understaffed urban police forces have the resources to arrest everyone that breaks a law?"

They may not be so effectively understaffed if there weren't so many stupid laws, like this one.

[Straw Man]

24. Because I follow news related to firearms law ...

... and I know that DC is notorious, not only for strict laws, but for very little tolerance for any firearms-related transgression.

http://www.policestateusa.com/2013/mark-witaschek-ammunition-charge/

I believe that my opinion is based on factual information, whereas yours is based on what you would like to believe.

[jimmy the one]

25. mountain of a molehill

neon: Do you live in DC (I live two miles outside DC)? Do you think understaffed urban police forces have the resources to arrest everyone that breaks a law? My gut tells me that in DC the possession of a high capacity magazine without a firearm present and no indication that the bearer of the magazine has any criminal intent is not going to result in arrest unless the cops need that arrest for some other reason.

Neon is correct, & I was born in DC & lived there about 35 years in the suburbs (camp springs abouts); Unless there are some aggravating circumstances or a previous record for gun violations, the normal DC cop is probably not gonna mess with somebody for having an empty clip in his car, tho he might confiscate it. (Apply to residents moreso than visitors or even out of state employees). Dunno about a loaded clip tho, big diff. DC cops & PG cops have bigger problems to contend with on almost an hourly basis, than to have to deal with emptiness.
And semi auto rifles were always legal in DC even during the handgun ban, about 100,000 legal gun owners in DC of ~550,000.

greg's clip was empty: D.C. attorney general declined to charge the host of NBC’s “Meet the Press” for displaying an empty ammunition magazine on national television..

What icon is doing here, is making a mountain of a molehill. Just like the gun lobby tried to do when it happened.

[Fred Sanders]

26. What ARE you doing introducing fact and logic to the group, it is like Kryptonite here.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

27. What facts? The entire post is rhetorical speculation.

What isn't speculation that DC has prosecuted non-elites for a lot less.

[virginia mountainman]

28. DC prosecution for fired shotgun shell..

It does happen.... took me less than 15 seconds to find this..

A year ago this month, the attorney general for the District of Columbia let NBC News anchor David Gregory off scot-free for possession of a “high capacity” magazine because doing so “would not promote public safety.”

Now, Irvin Nathan refuses to use that same prosecutorial discretion for an average citizen who violated a bizarre technicality that makes empty casings and shells a crime as serious as having an illegal firearm.

Mr. Witaschek, a successful financial adviser with no criminal history, is the first known case of a citizen being prosecuted in D.C. for inoperable ammunition. Washington police and prosecutors have spent a year and a half trying to nail him for the possession of so-called unregistered ammunition.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jan/20/dc-businessman-trial-one-shotgun-shell-wasnt-given/?page=all

I guess being "urban and understaffed" really does not play into the equation.. But wealth, and connections clearly have "extra legal" privileges.. Just ask David Gregory...

[pablo_marmol]

29. "Fine, we disagree."

When one party to a debate knows a great deal about the subject matter under discussion, and the other knows nothing, it is incredibly dishonest to refer to differences that result from the disparity in knowledge as "disagreement".

What is honest is to say that one party to the discussion is talking out of their *ss.