David Gregory will not be charged for displaying ammo on 'Meet the Press'

According to the Washington Post and various media sources, NBC’s David Gregory will not be charged for having held up a high-capacity ammunition magazine on his NBC television program “Meet the Press”. The announcement came on Friday from Washington, D.C. prosecutors.

When Gregory showed the ammunition as a prop on live television in Dec. as he interviewed the National Rifle Association’s Wayne LaPierre, law enforcement officials in the nation’s capitol conducted an investigation as to whether or not the television news personality had, in fact, broken the law by doing so. The official code in Washington, D.C. clearly dictates that “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”.

Clearly, Gregory had such weaponry in his possession in the nation’s capitol. Yet, Irvin B. Nathan – the District of Columbia attorney general – wrote in a statement that even though Gregory’s possession onscreen meets the definition of the criminal statute, prosecuting Gregory would not promote public safety in Washington, D.C. nor serve the best interest of the nation’s capital’s constituency. In other, Gregory’s action with the illegal materials was not of danger to the public.

The decision not to prosecute the television news person also incorporated the condition in which Gregory acted, basically informing the public through his First Amendment Right about a material associated with a current event on his news program – that current event being the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Conn. which occurred on Dec. 14, 2012. Gregory’s display of the ammunition was also after President Barack Obama’s statement regarding the national tragedy which also made it nationally newsworthy.