Evan Perez’s comments on “The Situation Room” contradicted basic information on how semiautomatic weapons function.
A CNN senior justice correspondent, Evan Perez, made a demonstrably false claim about how semiautomatic firearms operate while reporting on a tragic shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic school on Wednesday. The incident, which occurred during an all-school mass at Annunciation Catholic School, left two children dead and 17 injured.
During a segment on “The Situation Room,” co-host Pamela Brown noted a witness’s account of the shooting, mentioning that the firearm was believed to be a “semiautomatic rifle” and that it “sounded like the gun was reloaded several times.”
READ: Tragedy At Minneapolis Catholic School: 2 Children Dead, 17 Injured
In response, Perez stated, “Right. And look, that’s not, that’s not uncommon as well. These things can shoot dozens of bullets, you know, in just one trigger pull, right?”
This statement directly contradicts the operational mechanics of semiautomatic firearms. As explained by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), a semiautomatic firearm fires only “one bullet with each pull of the trigger.” In contrast, a fully automatic firearm—a machine gun—continues to fire as long as the trigger is held down. It is important to note that the sale and possession of new fully-automatic firearms have been heavily restricted in the United States since 1986.
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Perez’s comments were made before any official information was released about the specific type of firearm used by the shooter. The claim that a semiautomatic weapon can fire “dozens of bullets” with a single trigger pull is factually incorrect and misrepresents the nature of these firearms.
There are numerous resources, including websites from the NSSF and the NRA, that provide accurate information on the differences between semiautomatic and fully automatic firearms.
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