Reporters Comments Under Scrutiny Following Video
The tragedy at Annunciation Catholic School is a haunting reminder of how fragile and brutal life can become in an instant.
A mass, meant to mark a hopeful beginning to a new school year, ended in horror. The shooter, Robert “Robin” Westman, who identified as a female, carried out a premeditated act of violence that left two children dead and seventeen wounded before taking their own life.
The facts are sobering: Westman was heavily armed with a rifle, a shotgun, and a handgun—three distinctly different weapons, each requiring deliberate action to operate. Early investigation reveals a chilling manifesto and a detailed arsenal, which Westman had planned and prepared meticulously. This was not a sudden snap. It was orchestrated carnage.
CNN Correspondent: Semi-automatic rifles “shoot dozens of bullets in just one trigger pull.”
CNN should not employ “experts” to comment on mass shootings who don’t even understand the basics of firearms. pic.twitter.com/WhXnGEsmng
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 27, 2025
And into that horror stepped CNN, armed not with clarity, but confusion. In a segment that aired shortly after the tragedy, CNN’s senior justice correspondent Evan Perez confidently—and incorrectly—stated that “dozens of bullets could be discharged with a single trigger pull.”
This is a claim that anyone with even a cursory understanding of firearms would find laughably wrong. A semiautomatic weapon fires one bullet per trigger pull. That’s it. That’s the definition. It doesn’t change depending on whether it’s an AR-style rifle or a common handgun. The mechanical function is identical.
What’s striking here isn’t just the inaccuracy—it’s the pattern. CNN has a history of bungling firearm terminology. In 2013, during the Navy Yard shooting, they suggested the attacker used a grenade launcher. He didn’t. Other outlets have confused shotguns for AR-15s. In every one of these instances, the errors conveniently support the same emotional narrative: guns are beyond comprehension, and therefore must be feared and tightly controlled.
Local news station calls a shot gun an AR-15. #fakenews #NBC4 pic.twitter.com/3O0HMNJZEs
— Michael Keyes (@michaelkeyes) October 9, 2017
There’s a difference between reporting and storytelling. Reporting sticks to what is known and verifiable. Storytelling chooses a villain, frames the emotional arc, and shapes the facts to support it. CNN, in moments like these, chooses the latter. The public deserves better—especially when the nation is in mourning. Misinformation, whether intentional or born from ignorance, does more than confuse. It erodes trust.
