Washington, D.C., city police are investigating whether NBC News' David Gregory broke the district's laws when he displayed what he said was a "magazine for ammunition that carries 30 bullets" on Sunday's edition of Meet the Press.
As we reported Monday, Gregory picked up and showed the magazine during his conversation with National Rifle Association CEO and Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre. Gregory asked LaPierre whether it's possible that mass shootings such as the one earlier this month in Newtown, Conn., could be prevented if such high capacity magazines were made illegal. LaPierre said such a ban would do no good because determined killers would find other ways to carry out such attacks.
After Meet the Press aired, some conservative bloggers asked whether Gregory had broken the law.
According to D.C.'s official code:
"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. For the purposes of this subsection, the term 'large capacity ammunition feeding device' means a magazine, belt, drum, feed strip, or similar device that has a capacity of, or that can be readily restored or converted to accept, more than 10 rounds of ammunition. The term 'large capacity ammunition feeding device' shall not include an attached tubular device designed to accept, and capable of operating only with, .22 caliber rimfire ammunition."
Now, as Politico and The Washington Post report, D.C. police confirm they are investigating.
Politico writes that:
" 'The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating this matter," said police officer and spokesman Araz Alali in an interview Tuesday. When pressed on what the police department was investigating, Alali added, 'The Meet the Press, David Gregory incident.
" 'There are D.C. code violations, D.C. code restrictions on guns, ammunition. We are investigating this matter. Beyond the scope of that, I can't comment any further,' he said."
NBC News hasn't yet commented.
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