An official with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told CNN Thursday that a “miscommunication” led the agency to tell NBC that displaying an empty, high-capacity ammo magazine on “Meet the Press” was legal. Host David Gregory, whose show is broadcast from Washington, D.C., may have violated city law when he displayed the empty magazine on air last Sunday.
“What was relayed back to me – which turned out to be a miscommunication – is ammunition was not legal unless (in the possession of an officer), but a magazine was not a problem,” the ATF official, who passed along the information to NBC, told CNN. The cable network did not name the official.
“I don’t know where the miscommunication occurred (at the MPD), but I do know that I passed along the information that I was told,” the ATF official said.
A city police spokesperson said earlier this week the agency had informed NBC it was not legal and was investigating the matter.
