David Gregory: Still not in jail and not going to be
Irvin Nathan, the attorney general for the District of Columbia, announced Friday that he will not press charges against NBC News’ David Gregory nor any employee of the broadcast network for violating the city’s gun laws. Violation of the city’s firearms laws carry a maximum $1,000 fine and one year in jail.
Mr. Nathan wrote to an attorney representing Mr. Gregory and NBC News, Lee Levine of Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz, LLP, that, “OAG has made this determination, despite the clarity of the violation of this important law, because under all of the circumstances here a prosecution would not promote public safety in the District of Columbia nor serve the best interests of the people of the District to whom this office owes its trust.”
It’s obviously important if important people can violate it with no consequence. Like you and me, only better.
January 11th, 2013 at 10:21 pm
Oh, come ON!
January 11th, 2013 at 10:31 pm
Grrrrr
January 11th, 2013 at 10:35 pm
I’m not a lawyer, so this is pure conjecture… can’t any further arrests be contested based upon this, and can’t any previous convictions be appealed based upon “prejudicial prosecution” or something?
January 11th, 2013 at 10:53 pm
ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL
BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.
The commandment that replaced the original commandments at the Animal Farm.
January 11th, 2013 at 11:00 pm
It’s the rise of the Modern American Aristocracy. We just saw a perfect (though not lone) example in the Gregory incident. Juxtapose that with Yeager having his carry permit yanked. Is Yeager a douche-canoe? Yes. Are the grounds for yanking the permit thin? Very. Bust a plebian on a close call, let a patrician walk on an easy hookup. Seems fair.
January 11th, 2013 at 11:12 pm
The conversation on gun control is now over.
January 12th, 2013 at 12:03 am
More equal indeed.
January 12th, 2013 at 12:04 am
Private prosecution a possibility in D.C.? Put Gura on it.
January 12th, 2013 at 1:41 am
Perhaps we should march on the AG’s office, or the Capitol, or the Whitehouse, each of us carrying aloft a 15 or 30-round mag, to inform an ongoing debate about firearms policy in D.C., and policies soon to be considered in congress and by the President. We would also be informing an ongoing debate about the Equal Protection Clause. This should be no problem, and should result in no arrests since, according to the A.G.:
“Influencing our judgment in this case, among other things, is our recognition that the intent of the temporary possession and short display of the magazine was to promote the First Amendment purpose of informing an ongoing public debate about firearms policy in the United States,especially while this subject was foremost in the minds of the public…”
January 12th, 2013 at 1:43 am
Like they say, “if you make something illegal then only criminals and liberal news anchors will break the law”.
January 12th, 2013 at 6:05 am
What Lautius said.
U.S. Constitution, Amendment XIV, Section 1: “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
I suspect a really smart attorney (“paging Mr. Gura….”) could make some hay with this by filing motions seeking to overturn convictions in D.C. which were based, in whole or in part, on possession of a firearms magazine capable of holding more than 10 ammunition cartridges. It is certainly arguable that Gangbanger Bob suffered under the law a great deal more than David Gregory, and it’s easy to confirm that the language of the law was identical in both cases.
If Mr. Nathan should claim that First Amendment rights justify ignoring Mr. Gregory’s violation of D.C. law, well, I can think of any number of attorneys who would beg to be thrown into that briar patch.
How successful would seeking to overturn prior convictions on 14th Amendment grounds be? I dunno; it might turn out to be dependent on convictions achieved during the term of the current D.C. AG, it might go all the way back to day zero (which is actually September 1976 when the current D.C. gun restrictions were re-applied), it might be a lot of work for no gain. In any case, it would certainly highlight D.C.’s penchant for capricious enforcement of gun laws and highlight the stupidity of attempting to influence geographically-based crime with magazine bans. For example, Eastern Avenue and Western Avenue mark the northeastern and northwestern borders, respectively, between D.C. and Maryland. On one side of the yellow line down the center of those streets an 11-round magazine earns you jail time, on the other a cop will tell you to get out of the street.
January 12th, 2013 at 9:15 am
Meanwhile, in Cuomo’s NY, an injured special forces veteran was arrested on five felony accounts for having empty magazines in his vehicle during a traffic stop.
http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20130107/NEWS07/701079944
January 12th, 2013 at 10:01 am
Next week on Meet the Press Gregory, smokes a blunt to prove no one really needs a bong.
January 12th, 2013 at 10:09 am
Hmmm.
“to promote the First Amendment purpose of informing an ongoing public debate about firearms policy in the United States”
What that says to me is that the pro-marijuana legalization folks should have a big protest in DC and all light up.
He, First Amendment purpose to inform the debate, right?
January 12th, 2013 at 10:38 am
To add a little fuel to ‘the fire, it now turns out Gregogry’s lawyer wife is personal friends with the district attorney who wrote the letter declining to prosecute.
If Mr. Gura really wants to have some fun, he can start with an ethics complaint against Nathan with the DC bar, then move onto the didcrimination appeals.
January 12th, 2013 at 11:11 am
@somejerk – that friendship must be “among” the “other things influencing our decision.”
January 12th, 2013 at 12:39 pm
rickn8or, Kdawg: as the latter notes, it’s a state prosecution. Gregory’s crime is under D.C. law which only exists at the pleasure of the Congress, and prosecutorial power is in the hands of the Federal Department of “Justice” (i.e. Eric Holder).
The prosecutor admitted this was a knowing violation (mens rea, Latin for guilty mind, not that that’s required), and that the law is “important”.
As far as I’m concerned, the Federal government has lost all moral standing to impose a magazine ban on us.
January 12th, 2013 at 1:37 pm
IANAL, but isn’t the 1st Amendment now sufficient to walk around DC with a magazine that holds more than 10 rounds? After all, we have the right to petition our government over the unequal enforcement of laws. Political protests are recognized as free speech protected by the 1st Amendment (flag burning).
January 12th, 2013 at 6:42 pm
I survived the Saratoga gun show. Opposite protests were separated by about 20 feet by sawhorses. Cops everywhere. Security sent anyone with a gun to the head of the line to check in.
It opened at 9am, I got in line at 10am, left at 12pm and there was still a line. Imagine having a gun show, with two ticket booths and a continuous inflow of people for at least 3 hours at $8 a head. Wow.
After I came out, I was standing on the opposite side of the street looking at the protestors, our people, some draped in Gadsden flags against the light rain, outnumbered the ones with “angels”. Some douchebag came up to me and said, “Can you help me fulfill a New Years resolution?” I said, “What’s that?” He said, “I’ve supported gun control for 50 years, but I haven’t done anything about it until now.” I sneered at him and walked away. Con artist looking for rubes? Fed with a hidden camera?
Pizza and beer now.
Over 21 million views can’t be wrong (another version, but this one is better).
Besides, you need this in your head because the beat is the perfect speed for performing CPR. Consider it survival training.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz3CPzdCDws
David Gregory? Never heard of him. Ever.
January 12th, 2013 at 11:24 pm
“…would not…serve the interests of the people.”
Truth there. Now and forever.
January 12th, 2013 at 11:58 pm
Prosecutorial defense… blah, blah, blah…
Before the million magazine march just ask for a binding advance decision. Sure, it will be denied, but he can be well advised that he will be more famous than he could ever imagine by not declaring the law DOA just because your hottie wife didn’t give him a big hug and
January 13th, 2013 at 10:40 am
Some AR-15/30 round mags come in cardboard boxes, and are so labeled (although someone could print up labels to put on appropriately sized boxes!) Openly carrying such boxes would seem to be entirely legal (although tempting contempt of cop charges, be sure there’s nothing else they might find to ding you with.)