NBC is dealing with an unexpected legal problem after a segment by David Gregory, who displayed what he said was a high-capacity ammunition clip on “Meet the Press.” D.C. law prohibits the possession of high-capacity ammunition clips. This may have been a case where a picture — or consultation with counsel — might have been in order. There is no exception for the media in such possession cases.
On the show with the National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre, Gregory showed him the clip and said “Here’s a magazine for ammunition that carries 30 bullets. Now, isn’t it possible that if we got rid of these . . . if we replaced them and said, ‘Well, you can only have a magazine that carries five bullets, or 10 bullets,’ isn’t it just possible that we could reduce the carnage in a situation like Newtown?”
The predictable response from LaPierre was “I don’t believe that’s going to make one difference.” The less predictable response came from gun owners and gun control advocates who noted that the possession of such a clip is a crime. The D.C. law states “No person in the District shall possess, sell, or transfer any large capacity ammunition feeding device.” This does not require that the clip be attached to a weapon and does not appear to require that it have rounds in the clip.
The reported investigation could also ensnare those NBC employees who obtained and transported the clip.
I honestly believe that Gregory is not blameful and that the law should have some flexibility for news or artistic speech when the clip is empty of rounds. What do you think?
Source: Washington Post
Where is Edward R. Murrow when you need him? Walter Cronkite was one of the last of “Murrow’s Boys.” Now we have sycophants who try to pass themselves off as journalists.
Oops. That megalomaniac LaPierre claims to speak forhundred’ss of millions of people?
Elaine:
most are that way. I guess they dont want to ask hard questions for fear of losing access to the politicians.
Politicians should be afraid to not go on a show which asks hard questions. The press in no longer free but the boot lickers of the current political class, both republicans and democrats.
mespo:
““NBC contacted the Metropolitan Police Department inquiring if they could utilize a high capacity magazine for this segment. NBC was informed that that possession of a high capacity magazine is not permissible and the request was denied.””
how do you say “ruh roh” in Latin?
Bron,
He’s a lightweight. He takes it easy on most of his guests. I stopped watching the show quite a while ago–only tune in every now and then.
The trouble with most of these types of news programs is that they often invite the same idiot pundits over and over again to express their opinions on politics and the state of the nation. There’s not a lot of in-depth discussion about important issues that might really enlighten the population and provide us with information instead of political talking points.
Arrest him and put him in jail. The law is the law. There should be no flexibility whatsoever. He should be treated no differently than anyone else.
I think the point that many 2nd Amendment advocates are making is that Gregory is perfectly willing to impose these idiotic regulations upon others (idiotic, in this case, because a clip without a gun & ammo is not dangerous), but will now, predictably, use the artist/media twit/VIP exception to escape the consequences of his violation of the DC criminal law.
As 2nd Amendment jurisprudence develops further, this kind of this will stop. In 1st Amendment jurisprudence, we have the concept of the “chilling effect,” which renders invalid state-imposed restrictions which do not themselves violate the 1st Amendment, but which threaten, discourage or chill future speech. With regard to the 2nd Amendment, a crazy patchwork of nonsensical local & State restrictions place a chill on an individual’s decision to keep & bear arms, because even when he acts in good faith, he might find himself violating the criminal law, just as David Gregory found.
Dick Gregory looks as though he needed a brain transplant. A repeat of the media’s school for mentally handicapped broadcasters would not suffice.
He obviously failed the first time. But mystery of mysteries, why? There are so many smart ones around.
I know, so many people identify with him, ie great audience appeal.
Snarky snark snark.
Elaine:
then how did he get the spot? It is high profile. Some executive must think he has the chops. I didnt like his questions for the most part, I didnt think he got to the meat of a matter, he asks superficial questions in my opinion and it seems he takes it easy on the dem guests.
David Gregory Under Police Investigation Over Gun Magazine On ‘Meet The Press’
Posted: 12/26/2012 9:16 am EST | Updated: 12/26/2012 1:41 pm EST
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/26/david-gregory-police-investigation_n_2364637.html?ref=topbar
Excerpt:
UPDATE: NBC News had requested and was denied permission to use a high capacity magazine on “Meet the Press.” Legal Insurrection’s William A. Jacobson looked into an email allegedly from the Metropolitan Police Department which said that the network contacted the police before the segment. The MPD’s Aziz Alali confirmed it, telling Jacobson:
“NBC contacted the Metropolitan Police Department inquiring if they could utilize a high capacity magazine for this segment. NBC was informed that that possession of a high capacity magazine is not permissible and the request was denied.”
The media responsiveness amazes a resident in this naive land.
Reasons?
—-Looking for more ads from the gun sector.
—-The pre-Christmas lack of sensation. “Santa bites chlld”
—-Media being played very skillfully by the NRA.
—-Media competition and lack of integrity, partcularly the newschannels.
—-Big brother said so.
—-All of the above and a dozen more.
Elaine, you go girl! You hit the nail right on the head about David Gregory…thanks, you did the typing and I didn’t have to!
Bron,
I don’t know if Gregory is a Republican–but he certainly doesn’t appear to be a liberal. It seems most of the people commenting here DO think he’s not the brightest bulb on the string of Christmas lights.
“Did LaPiere bring it and then have some one complaint? Wouldn’t put past him.”
BINGO!
But he is very tall.
Elaine:
David Gregory a republican? now that is news. And all this time I thought he was another liberal journalist. What is this world coming to?
I thought he was a lamebrain, well, I guess, it turns out he is a genius with the ability of highly complex thought. Who would have thunk?
Quid mespo dixit.
Mespo,
I agree, but David’s best and most fitting defense is to plead ignorance. It is his most enduring trait.
The Media Should Bury NRA’s Wayne LaPierre on the Business Pages Where He Belongs
By Peter Dreier, E.P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics, Occidental College
Posted: 12/22/2012
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-dreier/the-media-should-bury-nra_b_2352279.html
Excerpt:
Imagine what would happen if the top lobbyist for the tobacco industry gave a half-hour speech announcing that “smoking is good for your health” and called on the federal government to subsidize the distribution of cigarettes in every American school.
Would every American media outlet — television, radio, newspapers, and news magazines — flock to the speech and cover it as an important “news” event? Would major TV networks interrupt their regular programming to broadcast the speech live, in its entirety, then replay it over and over again throughout the day? Would talk radio stations devote that day’s shows to serious discussions of the lobbyist’s proposal Would The New York Times and other major newspapers splash the lobbyist’s major talking points across their front page the next day?
Of course not. The media would recognize the lobbyist’s speech as a blatant and misleading corporate propaganda, ignore it, or at most relegate it to a one-paragraph story in the back pages of the business section.
But on Friday, America witnessed the spectacle of the nation’s major news organizations providing the National Rifle Association — a lobby group for gun manufacturers — with tens of millions of dollars of free publicity.
Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s executive vice president, invited the media to an alleged “press conference” in Washington, D.C. to break its week-long silence after 20 children and six adults were killed with an assault weapon at the Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.
LaPierre stood behind a lecturn and ranted for 30 minutes, repeating the NRA’s well-worn propaganda that violent video games and movies — not the proliferation of military-style weapons — are responsible for the nation’s epidemic of mass shootings, called on the federal government to pay for armed guards at every American school, and generously offered to have the NRA train this massive army at taxpayers’ expense. Then he repeated a one-line sound-bite that he knew would be repeated on radio, TV, YouTube videos, and newspaper headlines: “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
Imagine that! The National Rifle Association, which gets most of its money for gun manufacturers and lobbies against all restrictions on gun sales and ownership, wants more Americans to have guns! Stop the presses!
But that’s exactly what happened. Major television and radio networks did, in fact, interrupt their regular programs to give LaPierre a half hour of uninterrupted free publicity that even the NRA couldn’t have afforded to pay for if this had been a prime-time infomercial.
Immediately after LaPierre stepped off the stage (after refusing to answer any questions), TV news shows and radio talk shows began serious discussions of his proposal to add armed security forces in America’s schools. For example, the morning talk show broadcast on KPCC (National Public Radio’s major outlet in the Los Angeles area) devoted an hour to the subject. It invited several academics, and invited listeners to call in, to discuss LaPierre’s ideas. The next day, The New York Times ran a front-page story about LaPierre’s speech under the headline, “NRA Envisions a ‘Good Guy with a Gun’ In Every School.” The front page story in the Los Angeles Times was headlined, “NRA Calls For Armed Guards in All Schools.”
This is a classic example of what social scientists call media “agenda setting” and “framing,” but which most people simply call “changing the subject.”
It’s all just so idiotic. No matter what law they put on the books there will be someone who will find a new way to work around it. (Just as in tax law, etc.) Human ingenuity knows no bounds.
The naivete’ and ignorance of the “let’s churn out more and more laws and make the world a great place” crowd is stunning, and depressing.