D.C. Attorney General Irv Nathan will decide whether or not Meet the Press host David Gregory will be charged over a segment last month in which Gregory used a 30-bullet magazine as a prop.
Interviewing National Rifle Association executive Wayne LaPierre on December 23, 10 days after a gunman killed 26 people—including 20 young children—at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., Gregory held up the magazine as an example of the kind of ammunition used in the massacre. Gregory asked LaPierre whether large-capacity magazines such as the one loaded in the Bushmaster .223 semi-automatic rifle used by Newtown shooter Adam Lanza should be outlawed.
But magazines such as the one held up by Gregory are illegal in the District, which prohibits civilians from owning ammunition clips that hold more than 10 rounds. After calls and emails from viewers, the Metropolitan Police Department launched an investigation into the Meet the Press segment. (The show is filmed at NBC4’s studio at 4001 Nebraska Avenue NW.)
Today, The Washington Post reports that MPD has finished its investigation and has turned the case over to Nathan’s office to determine whether or not the District will press charges against Gregory and the venerable public affairs program he hosts.
Under D.C. law, possessing magazines capable of holding 10 rounds or more is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine—even if the clip is unloaded. On a related note, it is illegal for people who are not registered gun owners to possess any kinds of ammunition.
Gregory and NBC News did ask D.C. police about the ammunition prop before carrying it out but were advised it was illegal. According to some reports, NBC also asked the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to weigh in on the matter.
The Office of the Attorney General did not respond to requests for comment on the Meet the Press investigation, but there is not shortage of public outcry to see Gregory charged and jailed. The Washington Times’ Emily Miller, a vocal gun rights advocate, is accusing District officials of going soft on Gregory, especially compared to a September 2011 instance in which a recently returned Army veteran was arrested when police discovered stray rounds of ammunition in his backpack.
There is also a White House petition calling for Gregory’s arrest, which currently has nearly 18,000 signatures out of the 25,000 needed to guarantee a response.
