Two derptastic examples of reporting this afternoon:
Police in Federal Heights are investigating the shooting death of a woman who was killed by a bullet from her recently purchased assault-style rifle.
Excuse me, a what?
assault-style rifle
What the hell is an “assault-style rifle?”
… described the rifle as an assault weapon, an AK-47 or similar style rifle …
Again, what?
similar style rifle
“Similar style rifle?” As in it’s similar to a fully automatic rifle? Is it a fully automatic rifle?
Enter HuffPo, who, like many websites, think that simply rewriting wire stories is original content. Ta da!
A Denver-area woman died Tuesday night after an assault rifle she was handling accidentally fired and shot her in the head.
Witnesses told ABC Denver affiliate KMGH that Anastasia Adair, 22, was passing an AK-47-style assault rifle to her husband, Dana “Shane” Adair, when the gun went off.
WHAT IS AN “ASSAULT-STYLE” RIFLE.
Was it a regular rifle made up to look like an AK-47? Like this pellet gun (below) is made to look like an AR-15?
If something is an “assault rifle” it’s a rifle capable of select fire and they’ve been banned since the 60s.
If it’s an “assault style,” that’s a made-up term by people who have no idea what they’re talking about and think that the paint job on a gun can make it shoot magic bullets.
Either way, in the era of information, it’s amazing that no one takes the time to Google basic phrases and facts before slapping their byline on it and sending it out into the world.
*Edited to add: Obviously this couple did not handle their firearms responsibly. To use their mistake as an indictment of all gun owners is like using Nickelback as an indictment of all bands and banning instruments.
**Another addendum: Obviously the gun made the couple get drunk and irresponsibly handle their firearms.
