David Gregory Won't Be Charged for Showing Gun Magazine on 'Meet the Press'

David Gregory won't face criminal charges for displaying a large capacity gun magazine on Meet the Press, a letter by the D.C. attorney general stated. 

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Irvin Nathan, the city's attorney general, wrote that the office would "decline to bring criminal charges against Mr. Gregory, who has no criminal record, or any other NBC employee based on the events associated with the Dec. 23, 2012 broadcast," in a letter to NBC's attorney obtained by the Washington City Paper. 

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When Gregory showed the gun magazine on the air while questioning the NRA's Wayne LaPierre a week after last month's Connecticut school shooting, he was in violation of Washington D.C. law. Shortly after the Sunday political show aired, the Washington Metropolitan police department stated that they were investigating the incident (and a petition seeking the arrest of the NBC host fanned the flames of the issue). 

"The device in the [Gregory]'s possession on that broadcast was a magazine capable of holding up to 30 rounds of ammunition. The host also possessed and displayed another ammunition magazine capable of holding five to ten rounds of ammunition," the attorney general wrote in Friday's letter. The office noted that it's illegal in the capital to display a magazine that can "accept more than ten rounds of ammunition."

Even though Gregory is in violation of the law, the letter explained that the office "made this determination ... because under all of the circumstances here a prosecution would not promote public safety in the District of Columbia nor serve the best interests of the people of the District to whom this office owes its trust."

The attorney general did criticize the network, however, for "feeble and unsatisfactory efforts" that were "made to determine whether or not it was lawful to possess, display and broadcast this large capacity magazine as a means to foster the public policy debate."