U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is taking heat for promoting a report that the National Weather Service was stockpiling ammunition based on website run by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.Earlier this week, Paul's official Twitter account posted the following with a link to a false report: "Mad a/b the weather or bad forecasts? I wouldn't complain, Nat'l Weather Svc just ordered 46k hollow-point bullets."But according to a National Weather Service spokesperson it was a mere clerical error.From FatLip: "Due to a clerical error in the federal business vendor process, a solicitation for ammunition and targets for the NOAA Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement mistakenly identified NOAA’s National Weather Service as the requesting office. The error is being fixed and will soon appear correctly in the electronic federal bidding system. The ammunition is standard issue for many law enforcement agencies and it will be used by 63 NOAA enforcement personnel in their firearms qualifications and training."The ammunition was ordered by the NOAA Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement, but the InfoWars piece alludes to a possible plot to crush civil unrest. Observers have questioned a Senator giving the report credibility, particularly ahead of Paul's keynote Republican National Convention speech.Paul's spokesperson could not be reached for comment.
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