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Waiting for David Gregory and NBC News to meet the press and the law

Waiting for David Gregory and NBC News to meet the press and the law

Emily Miller points out how David Gregory is receiving special treatment at the hands of the D.C. police, Two systems of justice:

It’s been more than a week since police in Washington, D.C., opened an  investigation into NBC’s David  Gregory’s possession of a “high-capacity magazine” that’s prohibited in the  District on on national TV…. This is a rather curious departure for a city that has  been ruthless in enforcing this particular firearms statute against law-abiding  citizens who made an honest mistake.

The District came up with its overly restrictive laws in response to the Supreme  Court overturning the capital city’s 30-year gun ban. The statutes shouldn’t  apply just to regular people but to the rich and powerful as well. The District  should either repeal its over-the-top restrictions or send a squad car to take David Gregory into custody.

David Shuster furthers that Gregory and NBC News have left the DC Police little choice by failing to apologize, Time for David Gregory to Apologize (h/t Instapundit):

Meet the Press is the oldest and most treasured public affairs show on television.  The program’s host, merely by occupying the job, is a leader in broadcast journalism and in the Washington, D.C. community where the show is based.

This is why the ongoing silence of David Gregory and NBC News — following his apparent on-air violation of D.C. gun laws — is so disconcerting. By choosing not to comment, not only is Gregory diminished, but it harms the legacy of Meet the Press and leaves Washington, D.C. police with no opportunity to save face and move on….

None the less, Washington, D.C. police are now stuck. If they let David Gregory off without getting any acknowledgment from him that he made a mistake, police will be throwing “equal justice under the law” out the window. After all, would an African-American in Southeast D.C. who violated a gun law —  and wouldn’t acknowledge it — get a break? Of course not….

The ongoing silence, however, represents the arrogance of corporate legal practices. It’s not the image any of us who care about journalism want for Meet the Press or the show’s host.

I have to wonder, though, whose interests are being protected. Given Gregory’s on-air admissions, it’s hard to see how anything but throwing himself at the mercy of the poilce and courts will help. Silence, however, helps protect Gregory’s enablers at NBC News who procured the contraband.

David Gregory Quickmeme 7

(created by Legal Insurrection, via Quickmeme)

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Comments

DC police aren’t going to do a damned thing to Gregory or NBC.

“Meet the Press is the oldest and most treasured public affairs show on television. The program’s host, merely by occupying the job, is a leader in broadcast journalism and in the Washington, D.C. community where the show is based.”

This says more about the jejeune and dissolute state of our media culture — and overall culture — than anything I could add.

Silence, however, helps protect Gregory’s enablers at NBC News who procured the contraband.

Exactamundo, Professor. I’d like to know exactly who procured and then brought that magazine into the District and upon specifically who’s orders the deed was done.

This whole fiasco runs much, much deeper than just Mr. Gregory’s alleged on-air criminality.

    thalesofmiletus in reply to Samuel Keck. | January 3, 2013 at 7:54 pm

    “I’d like to know exactly who procured and then brought that magazine into the District and upon specifically who’s orders the deed was done.”

    Eric Holder?

“If they let David Gregory off without getting any acknowledgment from him that he made a mistake, police will be throwing “equal justice under the law” out the window.”

This is a problem only if you care about equal justice. Given the foot dragging so far, it’s fair to assume that the DC Police do not care, at least as long as they’re on the “administering” side and not the “receiving” side.

When Obama went on Gregory’s show right after LaPierre’s appearance, he was deliberately and clearly signaling the DC police and the Dept. of Justice that Gregory and NBC are off limits. And that is how they will remain.

David Shuster is popping funny pills to think that now the MPD have no way to save face and move on. Saving face doesn’t even enter into it. As for this:

“None the less, Washington, D.C. police are now stuck. If they let David Gregory off without getting any acknowledgment from him that he made a mistake, police will be throwing “equal justice under the law” out the window. After all, would an African-American in Southeast D.C. who violated a gun law – and wouldn’t acknowledge it — get a break? Of course not….”

They are not stuck, they do not care that they are throwing equal justice out the window and it does not matter that a black street punk carrying the same empty magazine would be frog marched to the local jail.

None of that matters in the slightest, not to Obama, not to NBC and not to the DC cops. What matters is that the Democrats’ political allies and friends are protected. Period, full stop.

When President Obama appeared on David Gregory’s show the week after this incident and called him by his first name, you can be assured that the chief of the DC police will not take any negative action against Gregory.

It was a clear signal from Obama that he is going to provide support and cover for those that support him.

Silence, however, helps protect Gregory’s enablers at NBC News who procured the contraband.

Silence is a standard legal defense strategy to hide behind the 5th Amendment since you can not be compelled to incriminate yourself. However, unlike in at Court of Law, in the Court of Public Opinion, silence is an admission of guilt. I don’t fault Gregory for keeping his mouth shut, I fault him for his arrogance and hypocrisy to defy the Law in the first place.

Look, worst-case, Obama writes him a pardon. But there *is* two sets of justice in DC, at least looking at DC PD behavior. This is useful to know.

White House petition to Press charges against David Gregory for possession of a 30-round, high capacity assault rifle magazine in Washington D.C has reached 2/3 of the 25,000 threshold to invoke a White House response. Please sign the petition and pass the link to your friends. It is important to make this case a benchmark for all prosecutions of innocent, law-abiding gun owners who unwittingly violate the arcane labyrinth of useless anti-gun laws. If DC files a case against Gregory then 2nd Amendment supporters can file a friend of the court brief challenging the magazine ban using the Heller decision.

I had an amusing thought about the David Gregory this story. As we all know, people have been arrested, held in jail, prosecuted, and punished for innocently and inadvertently violating the DC laws regarding weapons, ammunition, and related accessories.

I think that Mr. Gregory is not the only person in potential trouble. Somebody at NBC called the DC police asking for permission to use the magazine as a prop. There may have been a prop person who handled the magazine. Someone had to acquire it and bring it into the District. A variety of people may have known about the use of the magazine or assisted in its use. All of them could possibly be charged as co-conspirators or as accessories. There needs to be an investigation to see just how wide this conspiracy was at NBC.

But if you make a bad movie mocking Islam, federal thugs will come and arrest you in the middle of the night.

“You can’t waste a day when the night brings a hearse…
“So make a move and plead the Fifth ’cause you can’t plead the First!”

–Rage Against The Machine