ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Gun grabbers have been exploiting the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., to pursue their long-standing agenda of disarming America. Law-abiding and responsible gun owners are fighting back against the onslaught.

NBC anchor David Gregory acted on Sunday as if D.C. firearms laws didn’t apply to him. He brandished a 30-round rifle magazine on “Meet the Press” during an interview with National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre. “Isn’t it just possible that we could reduce the carnage in a situation like Newtown?” Mr. Gregory asked while waving the prohibited object.

A ruthlessly enforced city ordinance makes it unlawful to possess magazines with greater than a 10-round capacity. NBC staff had contacted the Metropolitan Police Department in advance seeking permission to violate the city’s rules for the stunt. According to a spokesman for Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier, the request was denied. Mr. Gregory went ahead anyway.

So far, Chief Lanier’s office will only say it has “launched an investigation” into the matter. Several law enforcement sources say that if anyone other than a network news anchor had done this, a warrant already would have been drafted for the perpetrator’s arrest for a crime that carries a maximum penalty of a $1,000 fine and one year in jail.

“This is the problem when you have anti-law-enforcement liberals running the city,” said Kristopher Baumann, head of the D.C. police union. “The laws they create are for the little people, and they don’t ever expect those laws to apply to them.”

Thousands of Americans have grown so tired of the hypocrisy that they’ve started a petition on the White House website seeking the deportation of Piers Morgan, the British host of CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight” who has lectured the nation about how only the police and military can be trusted to possess scary-looking rifles and “high-capacity magazines.”

Guests on the program who stand up for the Second Amendment are lambasted. For instance, Mr. Morgan recently asked Gun Owners of America Executive Director Larry Pratt, “You are an unbelievably stupid man, aren’t you?” It’s not surprising the petition to send the anchor back to his homeland has received more than 84,000 signatures.

The blowback wasn’t just virtual for the Journal-News in White Plains, N.Y. For the article “The gun owner next door: What you don’t know about the weapons in your neighborhood,” the publication created an interactive map revealing the names and addresses of every legal handgun owner in Westchester and Rockland counties. Printing the names of honest citizens who spent the time to get a legal permit crosses the line into invasion of privacy, increasing the threat of violence from criminals who want to steal the guns.

Blogger Christopher Fountain responded on Saturday by posting the home addresses and phone numbers for the CEO of the newspaper’s parent company, its publisher, the story’s reporter and other staff involved in the project.

Those who would exploit the horrific school shooting to advance their agenda should be held accountable for their actions. Whether it’s a symbolic effort to send away a condescending host or a very real push to ensure gun grabbers abide by the laws they espouse, the law-abiding aren’t sitting back while others seek to take away their God-given right.

Emily Miller is a senior editor for the Opinion pages at The Washington Times.

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