Kevin Fobbs
Meet The Press anchor breaks law to embarrass NRA with high-capacity magazine clip
By Kevin Fobbs
Just how important was it for David Gregory, NBC Meet the Press anchor to break a gun law to embarrass NRA on Sunday's show? It was not enough for Gregory to continue to badger NRA Chief Wayne LaPierre, into submitting to points that a New Assault Weapon Ban would work when the expired ban had not. According to the Washington Post, Wednesday, December 26th, an official investigation has been launched by the D.C. attorney general's office.
The NBC anchor had to go the extra mile to challenge Wayne LaPierre, with a high magazine clip, knowing full well that it was against the law in Washington D.C. to be in possession of such a clip. So, was it right for Gregory, a longtime Washington journalist, to break the law, when he knew that the Washington D.C. police had denied the display of the gun clip on the air when it was requested? Should Gregory be fined, suspended or fired for going too far in breaking the law in his attempt to neuter the Second Amendment rights of American law abiding citizens?
There is a serious problem that is emerging in the nation when journalists like NBC's Gregory can decide that they are above the laws which mere mortals in the heartland of the nation must obey.
Was it not enough to bring up points of disagreement with the NRA as it attempted to do, and were summarily dismissed with great professional skill as LaPierre, displayed? When the arguments that the Meet the Press anchor was trying to skewer the NRA were easily deflected, Gregory appeared to become more combative. His continued being more insistent, and even attacking and vilifying the NRA official for not agreeing with the gun control Washington democrats, and headline writers from around the nation.
Instead, LaPierre, calmly and firmly stated his and the concerns of millions of parents around the nation that wanted to see their children arrive and leave safely from their schools. The Meet the Press anchor kept insisting that the NRA leader was wrong, wrong, wrong!
Gregory, appeared visibly shaken by the steadiness of the NRA leader and seemed to decide at that moment that he needed to play the ace, which the police had already said he could not. Gregory picked the high-capacity magazine and held it up.
By shoving the gun clip in the air with vigorous motion, he appeared to be playing to his audience, because NRA Chief Wayne LaPierre, had seen this type of clip before, and he was undeterred. Now the NBC show anchor was openly and brazenly in violation of a gun law, of laws, that he had hypocritically been referring to as needing more enforcement.
This type of gotcha journalism has a streak of yellow a mile wide, and while the gun control fanatics in the television audience may have been shaking their fists at the television screens in indignation, the D.C. police were probably wondering, what the heck is wrong with this man, who presumes their gun laws he protests against have no meaning.
Well, it should be made clear to Gregory and every other journalist who decides that they cannot run for cover under some argument of free speech, which he may try to raise, in order to escape punishment.
There are definitely a few critical questions, which journalists from other networks, newspapers and the Washington D.C. attorney general's office should be inquiring about now. For instance, how did Gregory even get his hands on a supposedly illegal gun clip in the first place? Why did he knowingly break the law, when he was notified that he did not have permission to do so...period?
Hopefully, those and other related questions about Gregory's ill-considered on-air performance will be answered when he appears before a judge in a Washington D.C. court to explain, why he and his network is somehow above the law.
___________________________
(Click — let me know what you think)
© Kevin Fobbs
December 29, 2012
Just how important was it for David Gregory, NBC Meet the Press anchor to break a gun law to embarrass NRA on Sunday's show? It was not enough for Gregory to continue to badger NRA Chief Wayne LaPierre, into submitting to points that a New Assault Weapon Ban would work when the expired ban had not. According to the Washington Post, Wednesday, December 26th, an official investigation has been launched by the D.C. attorney general's office.
The NBC anchor had to go the extra mile to challenge Wayne LaPierre, with a high magazine clip, knowing full well that it was against the law in Washington D.C. to be in possession of such a clip. So, was it right for Gregory, a longtime Washington journalist, to break the law, when he knew that the Washington D.C. police had denied the display of the gun clip on the air when it was requested? Should Gregory be fined, suspended or fired for going too far in breaking the law in his attempt to neuter the Second Amendment rights of American law abiding citizens?
There is a serious problem that is emerging in the nation when journalists like NBC's Gregory can decide that they are above the laws which mere mortals in the heartland of the nation must obey.
Was it not enough to bring up points of disagreement with the NRA as it attempted to do, and were summarily dismissed with great professional skill as LaPierre, displayed? When the arguments that the Meet the Press anchor was trying to skewer the NRA were easily deflected, Gregory appeared to become more combative. His continued being more insistent, and even attacking and vilifying the NRA official for not agreeing with the gun control Washington democrats, and headline writers from around the nation.
Instead, LaPierre, calmly and firmly stated his and the concerns of millions of parents around the nation that wanted to see their children arrive and leave safely from their schools. The Meet the Press anchor kept insisting that the NRA leader was wrong, wrong, wrong!
Gregory, appeared visibly shaken by the steadiness of the NRA leader and seemed to decide at that moment that he needed to play the ace, which the police had already said he could not. Gregory picked the high-capacity magazine and held it up.
By shoving the gun clip in the air with vigorous motion, he appeared to be playing to his audience, because NRA Chief Wayne LaPierre, had seen this type of clip before, and he was undeterred. Now the NBC show anchor was openly and brazenly in violation of a gun law, of laws, that he had hypocritically been referring to as needing more enforcement.
This type of gotcha journalism has a streak of yellow a mile wide, and while the gun control fanatics in the television audience may have been shaking their fists at the television screens in indignation, the D.C. police were probably wondering, what the heck is wrong with this man, who presumes their gun laws he protests against have no meaning.
Well, it should be made clear to Gregory and every other journalist who decides that they cannot run for cover under some argument of free speech, which he may try to raise, in order to escape punishment.
There are definitely a few critical questions, which journalists from other networks, newspapers and the Washington D.C. attorney general's office should be inquiring about now. For instance, how did Gregory even get his hands on a supposedly illegal gun clip in the first place? Why did he knowingly break the law, when he was notified that he did not have permission to do so...period?
Hopefully, those and other related questions about Gregory's ill-considered on-air performance will be answered when he appears before a judge in a Washington D.C. court to explain, why he and his network is somehow above the law.
___________________________
(Click — let me know what you think)
© Kevin Fobbs
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