With all the tumult over gun control after the shooting on Valentine's Day at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida that killed 14 people, it comes as no surprise that hysteria levels at CNN would not only go through the roof, but they would try to promote the liberal view that guns are always deadly and often fatal.
However, CNN was so intent on slamming the AR-15 as a “full semi-automatic” rifle that a segment on Monday night's Anderson Cooper 360 contained inaccuracies from both CNN correspondent Gary Tuchman and retired military officer/CNN military analyst Mark Hertling.
According to an article from The Daily Wire's Ryan Saavedra, the men went to a shooting range for a demonstration of the weapon’s firing capacity.
After referring to the segment as “an embarrassing clip,” Saavedra stated:
Tuchman falsely asserted that a defining characteristic of the AR-15 is the "power of the bullet" that it fires.
This is a common lie spread by the media as the try to scare people into calling for AR-15s to be banned.
“Although that is akin to presenting a fully complete, partially finished home or totally full half-glass of water, they made their claims with straight faces,” Saavedra continued.
The staff writer then quoted Joseph Avery, who has more than 30 years of experience with the federal government in Army combat arms as an Air Force officer and in the Department of Defense:
A lot of people will buy this just because it's cool, and they want to appear like soldiers. If you're a gun collector or a gun aficionado and you want an AR-15, you can certainly buy one, and you should be able to buy one. The problem is when it gets in the hands of the wrong people.
In my personal opinion, you have to receive a whole lot of training to use this weapon. And this weapon in the wrong hands can be more dangerous than most weapons because of its capability to do a lot of damage in a short period of time and be irreversible.
“The M16 has had two problems in the past,” Avery continued, such as “a cartridge with a projectile that is far too small ... and underpowered, and a weapon platform that is unreliable and prone to jamming because of basic design flaws.”
Back to the CNN segment, Hertling made this absurd clam to Tuchman: “Now those are single shots. If I wanted to fire this on full semi-automatic, all I do is keep firing.”
For those who actually know what they're talking about concerning guns, one would know that there's no such thing as a gun that's “full semi-automatic.” Only later did Hertling acknowledge as much in some tweets.
Tuchman commented that these weapons can more easily be rented since no electronic checks are necessary then. "All you have to do is prove that you're an American citizen with ID."
Saavedra also stated that “CNN's segment was thoroughly mocked on social media as the network once again proved why many Americans do not take the media's ‘expertise’ on firearms seriously.”
Some of the first comments were made by NRATV's Colion Noir, who responded: “All guns are loud;” Avery should stop “making up words” like “full semi-automatic;” A “gun doesn’t kick that hard;” and people should “throw the whole CNN away.”
Securites Studies Group president Jim Hanson later referred to the CNN segment as “journalistic malpractice and an object lesson in beta male submission.”
Cooper had begun the segment by stating:
We had a spirited discussion last week on this program about AR-15-style guns, weapons originally designed for use on the battlefield but used to take 17 lives in Parkland, Florida.
We're talking about them because these shootings … have become so frequent and part of the lexicon about mass shootings that there's not really an understanding of what they really do or how powerful a weapon it is. So we wanted to take a closer look.
According to the NRA, he stated, “more than 15 million AR-15s are owned by Americans today.”
“Fans like the guns because they're lightweight, easy to handle,” Cooper added. “They also see them as a symbol of their Second Amendment rights. Its opponents question whether weapons so lethal should even be sold.”
Hopefully, the next time the people at CNN produce a report on guns, they’ll make sure they have accurate information first. With any luck, they won’t have to be embarrassed again.
