David Gregory’s Magazinegate: NBC and the DC Police’s Little Coverup

Revisiting a big story.  From Emily Miller at the Washington Times, who has been sending some letters back and forth to DC officials:

…He sent back a Feb. 20 email from Victor Bonett in the attorney general’s office that said, “OAG is withholding the Jan. 9, 2013 letter from Lee Levine and certain responsive emails between OAG and MPD, pursuant to D.C. Official Code Section 2-534(a)(3)(A)(i), (a)(4) and (e).”

Mr. Levine’s letter provided new information, such as that the source of the “high-capacity” magazine. “Meet the Press briefly borrowed the empty magazine from a private citizen who lives outside of the District of Columbia and who ‘Meet the Press’ understood possessed the magazine lawfully,” he wrote.

The NBC lawyer also claimed, “The magazine was immediately returned to its owner following the broadcast.”

However, according to a police “property record” document, a Kay Industries 30-round magazine was recovered from Mr. Gregory (at a redacted address) as part of an active investigation. The document is signed on Jan. 9, two days after Mr. Levine said the magazine had been returned to its owner.

So the mag they claim they borrowed was returned and yet a mag was still seized.  So no matter what NBC’s story, if the DC police seized a mag, that’s all it takes to violate the law.  Mere possession, and that’s it.

Good to see folks with resources, regional proximity, and ability are pursing this.

No matter how it turns out, it’s a splendid case to use for anyone who’s arrested or charged from now on to illustrate a failure of equal application of the law.

Professor Jacobson at Legal Insurrection has a bit more.

David Gregory’s Magazine Gate: Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others; Time for the Million Gun March

Since gun laws are now meaningless if you’re violating them for First Amendment purposes, it’s time for the million gun march on DC.

From Politico, via Drudge:

NBC’s David Gregory is off the hook for showing a high-capacity gun magazine on “Meet the Press” and will not be prosecuted, D.C.’s attorney general announced on Friday.

D.C. attorney general Irvin Nathan on Friday said he would decline to prosecute in the case involving the Sunday show host and any NBC staffers. In a letter to NBC’s attorney Lee Levine, Nathan wrote that after reviewing the matter, his office “has determined to exercise its prosecutorial discretion to decline to bring criminal charges against Mr. Gregory, who has no criminal record, or any other NBC employee based on the events associated” with the broadcast.

Some animals are more equal than others.

The office made its decision “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.”

Translation: “We know he broke the law, but f*ck you.”

Nathan noted that his office’s decision in this case was also influenced by “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.”

Oh goodie!  You can use the First Amendment to promote destruction of the Second.  Let’s turn that around and see how it works, shall we?

Since there’s now a First Amendment exception to the law, it’s time for a million gun march on DC.

And from NBC:

“We displayed the empty magazine solely for journalistic purposes to help illustrate an important issue for our viewers. We accept the District of Columbia Attorney General’s admonishment, respect his decision and will have no further comment on this matter,” the show stated.

Yeah.  Just like you blew up pickup trucks.  But this hypocrisy was guaranteed to be a win-win, and it still is a win.  Hypocrisy exposed, gun laws meaningless under the David Gregory exception.  There’s now a new exemption to prosecution.

Update: HotAir has more of the letter from the DC AG.

Current TV Anchor Calls For David Gregory To Apologize Over Magazinegate

David Shuster, now former Current TV anchor, as they’re now Al Jazeera, but whatever, he still makes the point that he’s ashamed of David Gregory:

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.

Interesting thing to hear coming from the left.

…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.

Shuster’s probably seen this:

And yet, each day the Gregory investigation continues, D.C. police are wasting more precious resources and time.

I appreciate that NBC counsel have apparently urged David Gregory, his staff, and all executives not to say anything while the investigation continues. But in this case, the narrow interests of a company lawyer undercut the ethical obligations of Meet the Press to journalism and the city of Washington, D.C.

It’s wise of them not to do so.  They were, after all…

Of course, Mike Judge had more subtlety than David Gregory.

There is nothing that prevents David Gregory from showing some respect to those institutions right now by saying something like, “I am sorry that my actions have caused a police investigation. My team and I will cooperate fully with D.C. police and do whatever we can to help resolve this matter.”

For now, however, David Gregory and NBC News offer only silence and “no comment.”

That is what you’re supposed to do when you’re caught red-handed.  Talking to the police only digs a hole deeper.  NBC has good lawyers who know how to not make a situation worse.  An apology, to a detective, is called a confession; and with a HD video of the crime broadcast to millions and subject matter expert across the table, there’s nowhere to go but guilty.

This is unfortunate and hypocritical. Not taking responsibility is what Gregory himself accused the Obama White House of doing in October over Benghazi. Gregory said at the time, “the buck stops with the White House and the president on these matters.”

Mr. Shuster, if your eyes are open to this, expect to see more of these things from your former leftist media heroes.  You didn’t even have to fight Roddy Piper – you put those sunglasses on for yourself.

HT HotAir

DC Police Strict On Gun Control When It’s A US Serviceman

From Legal Insurrection and Washington Times:

The District grabbed the guns belonging to 1st Lt. Augustine Kim and won’t give them back. Two years ago, the South Carolina Army national guardsman had been injured on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan. Now he’s fighting to restore his constitutional rights.

Before deploying overseas, the soldier drove his collection – which included an AR-15, a Beretta 9mm and several .45 caliber pistols – to his parents’ house in New Jersey for safe storage. Upon his return to the states and recovery, Lt. Kim wanted to bring his weapons back to his home in Charleston. On the way, he stopped at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Northwest Washington for a doctor’s appointment. That’s when his troubles started.

Lt. Kim became lost in the city and was pulled over. The cops asked Lt. Kim if they could search his vehicle. The lieutenant agreed because his guns were cased and stored in full compliance with federal firearm-transport laws.”I told them I had been under the impression that as long as the guns were locked in the back, with the ammunition separate, that I was allowed to transport them,” Lt. Kim told The Washington Times. “They said, ‘That may be true, however, since you stopped at Walter Reed, that makes you in violation of the registration laws.’ “

We’ll see if some animals are more equal than others.

David Gregory’s Magazinegate – What If He Went To Jail?

Via Yahoo and the Atlantic Wire:

David Gregory is actually under investigation for showing a 30-round magazine to the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre on Meet the Press this weekend, and the prospect of Gregory going to prison is actually making a lot of conservatives very happy. There’s no get-out-jail-free card in this meme, as far as they’re concerned — only a point to be made.

But the most important part is the comments:

Get this. He is not going to jail but if your average American was walking down the street in DC with one of these with no bullets he/she would go to jail if caught.

That is what gun laws are good for, getting innocent people in trouble. Just ask David G. of NBC. We don’t need gun laws. We need good judgment in making only good laws.

They have the evidence on film. If they don’t enforce the law, they should never be allowed to enforce it against anyone else.

He is in the media and he is not on FOX, therefore he is a liberal. And it is a SILLY law that if you have a 30 round magazine unattached to a weapon in DC you must go to jail, if they are not going to enforce the law, then they need to remove it from the books.

David Gregory’s Magazinegate – The ATF Weighs In… Sort Of

From Yahoo News:

Gwendolyn Crump, director of the Office of Communications for the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, told ABC News, “NBC contacted MPD inquiring if they could utilize a high capacity magazine for their segment. NBC was informed that possession of a high capacity magazine is not permissible and their request was denied. This matter is currently being investigated.”

But ABC News has learned from an official at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives that NBC had reached out to the federal agency on Friday for advice before displaying the weaponry.

According to the ATF official, the agency noted that ATF doesn’t enforce D.C. gun laws, but agreed to put the question to a couple of Washington police officers who’ve worked with the agency in the past.

The D.C. officers advised the ATF spokesman that Gregory could display the magazine, provided it was empty, the source said.

This is one of those times when it’s useful to note that cops aren’t lawyers.  Police have a bevy of regulations, rules, laws and ordinances to enforce, and have to have a breadth of knowledge across the whole of their enforceable jurisdiction that often results in thin spots at the periphery.  In short, the cops don’t always know every law.   Here, the DC police who responded to NBC from the department and said no were correct.  Those DC officers who responded to the ATF’s query were incorrect.  The statute is quite clear:

(b) No person in the District shall possess, sell, or transfer any large capacity ammunition feeding device regardless of whether the device is attached to a firearm. For the purposes of this subsection, the term “large capacity ammunition feeding device” means a magazine, belt, drum, feed strip, or similar device that has a capacity of, or that can be readily restored or converted to accept, more than 10 rounds of ammunition. The term “large capacity ammunition feeding device” shall not include an attached tubular device designed to accept, and capable of operating only with, .22 caliber rimfire ammunition.

H/T Durka Durka

And as ATF noted, they don’t enforce DC gun laws.  They don’t have to be aware of them all.

That turned out to be bad advice, as conservative media and gun rights activists were first to note. The ATF official describes this as a “misunderstanding,” and says he hopes DC police will not bring charges.

“Misunderstandings” for the little guy mean they get chained to a bed for months.

Maybe the ATF has learned from the murders of Brian Terry, Jaime Zapata, and now Susana Flores Maria Gamez, that they really should lie low for a while.  Any discussion about gun control that involves the ATF will end up bringing up the ATF’s smuggling of thousands of weapons to Mexico’s narcoterrorist cartels, which isn’t going to help those wanting to eliminate citizens’ rights really make any points other than that government force can’t be trusted.  And of course, there’s still the ongoing investigation and lawsuits to push for disclosure of some 70,000 documents that the ATF and DOJ have been stonewalling on since they started abetting murdering Mexicans and federal agents.

This is another one of those things that happens when you deal with too many regulations and too many agencies.  What is legal according to one can be illegal according to another.  Businesses that deal with city, county, state, and federal rules on commerce run into this all the time.  Firearms owners in states without preemption laws at some level often have to deal with patchwork laws as well, and have to be very aware of the minefield they constantly weave.

David Gregory’s Magazinegate – Politico Reports David Gregory Will Not Be Hosting Meet The Press Next Week

From Dylan Byers at Politico:

NBC’s David Gregory, the subject of a now-popular police investigation, is on vacation and will not host this Sunday’s edition of “Meet The Press.”

…

Gregory’s vacation was scheduled prior to last week’s show, according to NBC. He is scheduled to host the Jan. 5 edition of “Meet the Press.”

Maybe.  That’s a long time for NBC to make decisions until then.

David Gregory’s Magazinegate — Update: David Gregory Will Not Be Hosting Next Meet The Press

Several updates here.

DC Police confirm email denying NBC use of a magazine.  Legal Insurrection talked to DC police and confirmed.

Update:

David Gregory will not be hosting this Sunday’s Meet The Press.

David Gregory Violated DC Gun Laws After Being Denied By DC Police — Magazinegate — Update 4: Verified by DC Police

“From: “DC Police (imailagent)” <customerservice.mpd2@dc.gov>
Subject: Email from DC Police (Intranet Quorum IMA00519327)
Date: December 24, 2012 4:13:12 PM EST
To: -

The Metropolitan Police Department is in receipt of your e-mail regarding David Gregory segment on “Meet the Press.” MPD has received numerous e-mails informing us of the segment. NBC contacted MPD inquiring if they could utilize a high capacity magazine for their segment. NBC was informed that possession of a high capacity magazines is not permissible and their request was denied. This matter is currently being investigated. Thank you for taking the time to bring this matter to our attention.

Customer Service – Metropolitan Police Department”

Update 4: Legal Insurrection verifies relayed email with DC police.

Officer Aziz Alali of the MPD Public Information Office further confirmed the authenticity of the e-mail, and gave me this statement by telephone:

“NBC contacted the Metropolitan Police Department inquiring if they could utilize a high acapcity magazine for thie segment. NBC was informed that that possession of a high capacity magazine is not permissible and the request was denied. This matter is currently being investigate and I cannot get into any further specifics on this investigation.”

The email was sent to me by an individual who received it in response to his own inquiries, and I also saw it posted in an ongoing discussion of the David Gregory case.  I’m no longer waiting for the DC police to get back to me via email with a few answers to questions I sent, as they’ve started an investigation, and there’s probably little more to say until it’s completed.  Looks like was their standard response for at least a day  – apparently they were bombarded with emails.

The question mark went away because I got another confirmation of the original DC police message above, and now another copy of the DC message, and it looks like the DC police have changed their story.  And as noted in the above update, Legal Insurrection has verified what was sent to me yet again.

From: “DC Police \(imailagent\)” <customerservice.mpd2@dc.gov>
Date: December 24, 2012 16:13:15 EST
To: XXXXXXX
Subject: Email from DC Police (Intranet Quorum IMA00519327)

The Metropolitan Police Department is in receipt of your e-mail regarding David Gregory segment on “Meet the Press.” MPD has received numerous e-mails informing us of the segment.  NBC contacted MPD inquiring if they could utilize a high capacity magazine for their segment.  NBC was informed that possession of a high capacity magazines is not permissible and their request was denied.  This matter is currently being investigated.   Thank you for taking the time to bring this matter to our attention.

Customer Service – Metropolitan  Police Department

On calling the DC police just to see if the email was their official statement, the officer who I spoke with was only able to inform me that the issue had been pushed well up the chain of command.

Update: Breitbart says the DC police have started an investigation.

Update 2: Another individual contacted me and showed me they got the exact same response from DC police.  It’ll be interesting to see where this goes now.

CNN Politics is now reporting that DC police are investigating whether David Gregory broke the law.

It’s not known whether the magazine Gregory had in his hand was authentic or a prop. D.C. police spokeswoman Gwen Crump told CNN the department is investigating the matter and would have no further comment at this time.

That’ll probably be the excuse they run with later.  But the problem is, the way the statute is written, it also includes:

or similar device that has a capacity of, or that can be readily restored or converted to accept, more than 10 rounds of ammunition

So it doesn’t even matter if it is a prop.  A prop can be readily converted.  There have been asinine comments galore about how he was just holding up an empty magazine body.  Wouldn’t matter under the statute.  A USGI magazine like the one he held up is composed of only four parts – a magazine body (the boxy main piece), a spring, a follower (a piece that is pushed up by the spring and pushes cartridges up to the top), and a floorplate (the bottom piece that holds the spring in on the other end of the magazine body).  There’s not really much to be said.

Let me make this very easy for you guys, since I know somebody from NBC is going to see this:

NBC, you got caught.  NBC, own up to the fact that you’re pushing for gun laws you don’t even follow.  NBC, if you lie, you know the police will be concerned about what else is in your studio – and you know if anything you have walks off and finds its way to the street, you have very deep pockets to sue.  NBC, if you tell the truth, you can probably clear this up.

NBC, do you really want this to become “Magazinegate”?  Or a replay of your 1993 scam that you pulled on Chevy pickup trucks?

The reputation of a thousand years may be determined by the conduct of one hour.

- Japanese Proverb

–

Over at The Hill, they report the same thing, but it looks like either they know less than zero about firearms, or they’re in dire need of an editor (and that’s coming from somebody who sometimes has to update because of missspeled wurds):

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.

And Politico has the same:

The Washington Metropolitan Police Department is investigating whether any city laws were violated when NBC’s David Gregory displayed what appeared to be a 30-round gun magazine on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, a spokesman confirmed to POLITICO.

“The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating this matter,” said police officer and spokesman Araz Alali in an interview Tuesday.

When pressed on what the police department was investigating, Alali added, “The ‘Meet the Press’, David Gregory incident.”

“There are D.C. code violations, D.C. code restrictions on guns, ammunition. We are investigating this matter. Beyond the scope of that, I can’t comment any further,” he said.

Except they already did comment further.  See above.

Legal Insurrection notes that they’ve confirmed part of the email and will be following up on it.

It may be even worse for Gregory and NBC News.  According to an e-mail received by The Patriots Perspective website, which originally broke the Gregory story, NBC News had inquired whether it was permitted to use the magazine and was told that it was not permitted.  The authenticity of the email has not been verified.

Update 7:20 p.m. — As to the purported email from the MPD stating that NBC’s request to use a high capacity magazine was denied, I have not received any official response from the MPD, but a source who requested anonymity, but who I was able to verify as working for D.C. government, provided the following information: “… the Metropolitan Police Department email reply you received is genuine. DC Government uses “Intranet Quorum” software designed by Lockheed to manage general inquires. The email address and the subject line of the email you received are consistent with that software.” I will be following up with MPD about this tomorrow.

Update 2: Hmmm…  Something I just found Behind the Green Door.

“From: DC Police (imailagent) <customerservice.mpd2@dc.gov>
Subject: Email from DC Police (Intranet Quorum IMA00519327)
Date: December 24, 2012 4:13:12 PM EST
To: <edit>
Delivered-To: <edit>
Received: by 10.58.40.116 with SMTP id w20csp86845vek; Mon, 24 Dec 2012 13:14:11 -0800 (PST)
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The Metropolitan Police Department is in receipt of your e-mail regarding David Gregory segment on “Meet the Press.” MPD has received numerous e-mails informing us of the segment. NBC contacted MPD inquiring if they could utilize a high capacity magazine for their segment. NBC was informed that possession of a high capacity magazines is not permissible and their request was denied. This matter is currently being investigated. Thank you for taking the time to bring this matter to our attention.

Customer Service – Metropolitan Police Department”

–

Legal Insurrection points out that it’s actually important to prosecute David Gregory:

…as Gregory stated, that the magazine was for an AR-15, then why shouldn’t Gregory and the staffers to and from whom the magazine was transferred, be prosecuted?  Particularly in light of Gregory’s aggressive demand for more guns laws.

Certainly, if LaPierre had shown up with that magazine, there would be howls of gotcha, and widespread media demands for prosecution. Why should NBC News and its star be above the law?

There’s another lesson here.

Gregory’s possible violation of the law was exposed by the conservative blogosphere, which also pointed out that Gregory sends his kids to a school with armed security at the same time he was mocking the NRA suggestion of armed security in schools.

Update 3: Legal Insurrection points out that they must be playing a game of hot potato with the radioactive mag, as anyone who holds it is violating the law.

Possession or transfer of a high capacity ammunition magazine, or one that could be “readily restored or converted to accept” more than 10 bullets, is a violation of D.C.’s gun law.

So I imagine that if the magazine waved around by David Gregory last Sunday was real, or even a disabled version of a real magazine, it is sitting on a desk someplace at the Meet The Press studio, with no one willing to pick it up.

Because to pick it up would be a potential violation. To transfer it to someone else might be another violation.

NBC, I’ve got an idea… why don’t you go toss it in a Chevy CK pickup?  When it explodes, as those are wont to do when they belong to you, NBC, then your problem will be solved… Aside from the videotaped admission and expert witness across the table from your criminal, you’ll have nothing to worry about.

–

Update 5: From the Washington Post:

After the show, people contacted D.C. police asking whether they would charge Gregory with a crime. A response from the department’s customer service section sent to a group called Patriot Perspective, and confirmed as accurate by a police spokeswoman, said “The Metropolitan Police Department is in receipt of your e-mail regarding David Gregory segment on ‘Meet the Press.’

My handle is ShortTimer.  The blog is called The Patriot Perspective.

It was unclear from the segment how the apparent clip used was obtained or who obtained it. Authorities declined to say who at NBC asked for permission to use a clip, citing an ongoing investigation.

And:

The other question, the attorney said, would be how NBC obtained the magazine, whether it actually had the capacity to hold 30 bullets and whether the host knew that D.C. police had rejected a request from the show to obtain one from the department’s evidence room.

Doesn’t even matter.  Statute says anything that can be converted or restored to becoming a large capacity ammunition feeding device.  That’s the rub.  Write totalitarian laws, get snared in them.

“I presume David Gregory didn’t go out on the street and get a 30-round clip himself,” said Benowitz, a partner in the law firm of Price, Benowitz LLP. He said that if an NBC staffer brought in a clip — from Virginia, for example — that would also be illegal.

I think this is known in stoner circles as the “those aren’t my drugs, I was just holding them for a friend” defense.

–

CBS is running the story now, too.

–

H/T OODA_Loop

Magazinegate term coined at 6:57AM CST, 12/26/2012.  Just to see if it takes off.

>Information Overload: How Obama is using Saul Alinsky’s Playbook

>Lots of things going on in Washington D.C. these days, from confirmation hearings for the supreme court to words on a second stimulus bill, to hardly publicized meetings between the president and various union leaders concerning universal health care. Glen beck from Fox news gives his take on the “Information Overload” our “Watchdog” media seems to be experiencing.

http://foxnews1.a.mms.mavenapps.net/mms/rt/1/site/foxnews1-foxnews-pub01-live/current/largeplayer011008/fncLargePlayer/client/embedded/embedded.swf