CNN Reporter: Semi-Automatic Rifles Can Fire Dozens of Bullets With One Trigger Pull

Matt Vespa | August 28, 2025 12:30 AM

What the hell is wrong with CNN? No, wait—I know; that’s an evergreen question. Yesterday, the nation was rocked by a tragic mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Robert “Robin” Westman, a man who identified as a female, opened fire during a mass, which was being held to commemorate the start of the new school year, killing two students, ages eight and ten, and wounding 17 others. Westman committed suicide before being apprehended by police.

Westman was armed with a rifle, shotgun, and a handgun. It was a pure act of evil. The manifesto and accompanying videos showcasing the arsenal Westman had amassed for the attack were beyond disturbing.

And CNN decided it was a prime opportunity to drop some fake news about the weapons. First, semiautomatic isn’t scary or new—these are standard rifles that have been available for civilian purchase for generations. Simply put, it means self-reloading, where one round is fired per trigger pull. The same applies to handguns with a detachable magazine. The Beretta 9MM handgun John McClane and Martin Riggs used in Die Hard and Lethal Weapon, respectively, are semiautomatic—one round per trigger pull.

The network’s senior justice correspondent, Evan Perez, said that dozens of bullets could be discharged with one trigger pull. That’s simply a lie. It’s not the first time CNN has coughed up the ball on guns, their firing mechanisms, the current laws, and the lexicon. You need to know what you’re talking about, and the number of reporters who still think that semiautomatic and automatic are the same remains astounding. This network also believed that the Navy Yard shooter in 2013 used a grenade launcher. But CNN isn’t the only one—a local NBC News affiliate thought a shotgun was an AR-15 rifle.