# Should David Gregory be charged with violating DC's ban on high capacity gun magazines? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 27, 2012, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-david-gregory-be-charged-with-violating-dcs-ban-on-high-capacity-gun-magazines/645299 "2012-12-27T17:31:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-david-gregory-be-charged-with-violating-dcs-ban-on-high-capacity-gun-magazines/645299/61 "2012-12-28T11:08:04Z")
I say lock him up and throw away the key. What a phenomenally stupid thing to do, and setting a really bad example to boot. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-david-gregory-be-charged-with-violating-dcs-ban-on-high-capacity-gun-magazines/645299/62 "2012-12-28T12:40:11Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > I say lock him up and throw away the key. I think it’d be more like ‘fine him less than a day’s pay and throw away the check.’ > [@](#): > > and setting a really bad example to boot. An example of what? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-david-gregory-be-charged-with-violating-dcs-ban-on-high-capacity-gun-magazines/645299/63 "2012-12-28T15:36:08Z")
> [@D-bear](#): > > Should George Bush (41) have been prosecuted for possession when he had [Crack Cocaine](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/tours/scandal/bushdrug.htm) on his desk in the Oval Office? Seems like kind of a similar question to me. Thanks for that link. That story is hilarious! ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-david-gregory-be-charged-with-violating-dcs-ban-on-high-capacity-gun-magazines/645299/64 "2012-12-28T15:44:10Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Thanks for that link. That story is hilarious! Yup. At least in the same way so much of the drug war is hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-david-gregory-be-charged-with-violating-dcs-ban-on-high-capacity-gun-magazines/645299/65 "2013-01-03T13:09:49Z")
> [@gunchris](#): > > DC law mirrors CA law in many ways, it could be illegal to have a prop if you’re not a certified armorer for a film production company. The story is similar to the outrage when Marky Mark Wahlberg made the movie\* “Shooter”\* > > They had him actually shoot real guns during production, the problem being he is a violent felon and prohibited. Nothing happens because the law is not fairly applied, we have the elite and we have the peasants. If some unimportant liberal facebooker had done the same thing she would be arrested. I hadn’t heard of all this outrage, so I did a bit of googling. Two interesting points came out: 1. Skimming through various gun supporter forums, it appears that there is some dispute whether the crimes that Wahlberg committed were actually felonies. If not, the felony prohibition does not apply. I don’t know what the answer is, but there appears to be uncertainty on this point. 2. In any event, the “life-time” prohibition on felons owning guns is actually quite fluid. The federal prohibition links to state laws; if the state in question allows felons to regain the right to have firearms, then the federal prohibition also ceases. Over the past 20 or so years, many state legislatures have made it easier and easier for felons to re-acquire their right to own guns. The impetus for those relaxed laws to help convicted criminals get guns is apparently the good folks at the NRA, as outlined in this interesting article: [Felons Finding It Easy to Regain Gun Rights](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/14/us/felons-finding-it-easy-to-regain-gun-rights.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0). So, the fact that Wahlberg was convicted of some violent crimes does not automatically bar him from owning guns; he may have been able to regain the right under state law. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-david-gregory-be-charged-with-violating-dcs-ban-on-high-capacity-gun-magazines/645299.md?page=3)