NBC’s David Gregory is an expert on politics, but he may need to brush up on local D.C. law.

Gregory may have run afoul of local Washington police when he brandished a high-capacity (Seaward note: standard capacity, actually) gun magazine on “Meet the Press” during an interview with NRA chief Wayne LaPierre on Sunday.

“Here is a magazine for ammunition that carries 30 bullets,” Gregory said, holding up the long, black casing. “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?”

“I don’t believe that’s going to make one difference,” LaPierre responded. “There are so many different ways to evade that even if you had that (ban).”

After Gregory’s “Meet the Press” show-and-tell, some gun rights activists noted that a section in the D.C. code prohibited the show from having the magazine in its Washington studio.

“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,” it reportedly says.

And a spokesman for the Washington Metropolitan Police Department confirmed to Politico that Gregory’s demonstration might have broken a local law. On Wednesday, the police also said that NBC News was aware that its prop was not lawful.

“NBC contacted (the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department) inquiring if they could utilize a high capacity magazine for their segment,” police spokeswoman Gwendolyn Crump told Politico in an email. “NBC was informed that possession of a high capacity magazine is not permissible and their request was denied.”

The D.C. police did not immediately respond to a request for more information. A spokeswoman for NBC News declined to comment.

 Ouze wrote:
Subject: "DC Police Investigating David Gregory Over Firearm-Related Charge"

Story: Nothing about an investigation

David Gregory is being investigated by police over the gun magazine that he showed on Sunday's "Meet the Press."

Gregory held up what appeared to be a 30-round gun magazine during his contentious interview with the NRA's Wayne LaPierre. He was asking LaPierre whether fewer victims would have died in the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School if the gunman had not had access to so many bullets.

Araz Alali, police officer and spokesman, confirmed to Politico on Tuesday that the Metropolitan Police Department is looking into “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.

The code in question says, “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," and has been mentioned by numerous conservatives making the argument against Gregory.

 BlueDagger wrote:
While it's the media, so they'll just get a little fine or something, I wish they'd put someone in jail for this to tell the media to shut the hell up.

 Kanluwen wrote:

What?

That's a horrible reason for the police to do such a thing.

 Seaward wrote:
Let me know if they used the word 'investigation' enough.

 Seaward wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:

What?

That's a horrible reason for the police to do such a thing.

True.

The fact that it's a felony, if memory serves, is a much better one.

 Seaward wrote:
A potential fly in the ointment is that the ATF apparently did say it was cool, but I don't believe that's ATF's call in this circumstance, and they were contacted only after DC police said no, absolutely not.

 whembly wrote:

 Seaward wrote:
A potential fly in the ointment is that the ATF apparently did say it was cool, but I don't believe that's ATF's call in this circumstance, and they were contacted only after DC police said no, absolutely not.

erm... remember, DC is a federal something... (federal enclave? it ain't a state, that's for sure).

So, the ATF may have jurisdiction.

While I'd enjoy a good schadenfreude... this is much ado about nuthin.

 d-usa wrote:
The editors were probably packing heat while the magazine was in the building to keep it from killing people. Remember, the only thing that stops guns are more guns.

Now that the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department is on record that it told NBC News not to use the high capacity magazine in its segment with Wayne LaPierre, the big media is paying attention and taking this seriously.

TMZ is running interference claiming that NBC News was told by ATF that the D.C. Police said it was okay, but the D.C. Police say they were asked directly by NBC News for permission and that permission was denied.

The NY Times actually has a sensible and informative story on it:

"In Washington, people who are caught in possession of the type of magazine that Mr. Gregory had can face up to a year in prison, said David Benowitz, a criminal defense lawyer.

“You would be arrested; you would most likely be charged with possession of an illegal magazine,” Mr. Benowitz said, adding that “depending on what time you were arrested, you would most likely be held overnight.”

Prosecutors and defense lawyers often work out a plea agreement in which defendants receive probation and have a misdemeanor charge on their criminal record, Mr. Benowitz said. If defendants have a prior criminal record or lose a jury trial, they could face a stiffer sentence.

Mr. Benowitz said the accusation from the police that NBC had asked for permission and then went ahead with showing the magazine “didn’t help Gregory’s case.”

Yeah, asking for permission is pretty damning when you ignore what you are told directly from the law enforcement authority and do it anyway.

Unfortunately, the otherwise great Greta has missed the point on this, Investigating NBC’s David Gregory? Really? Can we be any sillier?
We have so many serious issues of violence in this country — and even here in DC on our dangerous streets — that it is bizarre to me that anyone would spend (waste) 5 minutes investigating NBC’s David Gregory for this.

One of the problems with the ever expanding gun laws advocated by Gregory and others is that otherwise law-abiding citizens get caught up inadvertently violating the law, like this soldier on leave from Afghanistan, while criminals do what they please and powerful people don’t get prosecuted.

The guns laws, as presently constituted and as proposed, turn us into a nation of men not of laws.

What Greta doesn’t understand is that David Gregory isn’t being investigated because he’s David Gregory; if he were anyone else, he’d already be in jail.

 whembly wrote:
Okay... I LOL'ed at this... but, over reaction maybe?

 d-usa wrote:
The editors were probably packing heat while the magazine was in the building to keep it from killing people. Remember, the only thing that stops guns are more guns.

 d-usa wrote:
The editors were probably packing heat while the magazine was in the building to keep it from killing people. Remember, the only thing that stops guns are more guns.

 Ouze wrote:

 d-usa wrote:
The editors were probably packing heat while the magazine was in the building to keep it from killing people. Remember, the only thing that stops guns are more guns.

Well done.

I would definitely like to see this guy prosecuted because I'm pretty damn tired of so-called elites skating on things that would land us in prison. If I did what Piers Morgan did (and so on, and so forth) I'd be in the pokey for years.

 whembly wrote:

 Ouze wrote:

 d-usa wrote:
The editors were probably packing heat while the magazine was in the building to keep it from killing people. Remember, the only thing that stops guns are more guns.

Well done.

I would definitely like to see this guy prosecuted because I'm pretty damn tired of so-called elites skating on things that would land us in prison. If I did what Piers Morgan did (and so on, and so forth) I'd be in the pokey for years.

Okay... I see ya'lls point here.

"Gun control for thee, but not for me"!

 daedalus wrote:
So explain to me why a smaller magazine would result in less shootings? I mean, wouldn't that just result in someone carrying MORE magazines on their person?

 daedalus wrote:
So explain to me why a smaller magazine would result in less shootings? I mean, wouldn't that just result in someone carrying MORE magazines on their person?

 Seaward wrote:

 daedalus wrote:
So explain to me why a smaller magazine would result in less shootings? I mean, wouldn't that just result in someone carrying MORE magazines on their person?

I honestly don't believe most anti-gunners are aware that the concept of multiple mags exists.

 Seaward wrote:

 daedalus wrote:
So explain to me why a smaller magazine would result in less shootings? I mean, wouldn't that just result in someone carrying MORE magazines on their person?

I honestly don't believe most anti-gunners are aware that the concept of multiple mags exists.

 KalashnikovMarine wrote:

 Seaward wrote:

 daedalus wrote:
So explain to me why a smaller magazine would result in less shootings? I mean, wouldn't that just result in someone carrying MORE magazines on their person?

I honestly don't believe most anti-gunners are aware that the concept of multiple mags exists.

Didn't the Virginia Tech shooter have a backpack full of magazines?