By John Solomon
How the government's punishing of the exposure of official wrongdoing can linger for years
NBC's David Gregory has gotten away for nearly a month with violating Washington's firearms law on national television. The Metropolitan Police Department concluded its official investigation into the "Meet the Press" host's display of a prohibited 30-round rifle magazine on the live program, passing the buck to the District's Office of the Attorney General (OAG).
It's been more than a week since police in Washington, D.C., opened an investigation into possession by NBC's David Gregory on national TV of a "high-capacity magazine" that's prohibited in the District.
Under pressure from Congress and the public, D.C. officials are moving to ease one of the least defensible of their anti-gun ordinances. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, also the Judiciary Committee's chairman, held a hearing Monday on his proposal to decriminalize possession of a gun or ammunition for nonresidents.
Lawmakers in Prince George’s County, Md. hate guns so much they want to brand anyone convicted of violating one of the state’s convoluted firearm statutes. Stab someone with a knife, and the county won’t care or take notice of you after you serve your time.
The nation's capital treats gun owners like criminals. Even after a Supreme Court smackdown in 2008, Washington still has the country's most stringent gun-control laws. The city's anti-firearm ordinances are so convoluted and beyond the norm that average Americans can find themselves in big trouble for doing something that is entirely legal in almost every state.
"I unknowingly broke the law," Mr. Meckler told The Washington Times. "Mr. Gregory knowingly broke the law. While both are seemingly harmless, both acts were deemed illegal under the District's obscure firearms laws."
Mr. Meckler said he would never have intentionally left the rounds in his bag.
