Yesterday an employee shot six people in a Georgia FedEx facility. Luckily all six lived and are being treated for their wounds, it is not yet clear if everyone who was shot will pull through as one is in critical condition. Ultimately the gunman killed himself.
USA Today immediately called it an “assault rifle” yet later in their same story said the wounds were consistent with those from a shotgun. I’ve mentioned it before, but the media should take a few minutes to understand the differences between various firearms if they truly want accuracy in reporting. A shotgun and a rifle may appear similar, but are two completely different cartridges and while you can sometimes find upper receivers which are chambered for .410 shotgun it is doubtful that is what this individual had and was using. Even if it was, the firearm would still not be an assault rifle. Also the rounds for a shotgun are not bullets, they are shells. Even if they were cartridges the bullet is the projectile, so having bullets strapped to his chest would be pretty useless unless the firearm was black powder. The bullets generally come in a bag so he could tape a bag to his chest. In all likelihood he had a bandoleer with shotgun shells.
A 19-year-old package handler decked out “Rambo-style,” with an assault rifle and bullets strapped to his chest,
I honed in on USA Today as the worst offender, but I’m sure with a little more searching more incorrect articles would appear. I’m just not sure why many in the press continually get facts wrong. According to Google, USA Today came out 22 hours ago (from the time I am writing this post) and the first story I linked from the WSJ came out 21 hours ago and near as I can tell has the facts correct. It’s not that difficult, take some time to learn what you are reporting about and read your own stories, especially when later in the story it becomes clear what firearm was being used.