CNN’s Kirsten Powers Cuts Off Gun Reporter, Calls to Ban Assault Weapons: ‘This is Like a Game You Guys Play’

CNN analyst Kirsten Powers interrupted network firearms reporter Stephen Gutowski Wednesday to call for a ban on millions of firearms in the wake of a spate of mass shootings.

A gunman used an AR-15-style rifle and a pistol when he opened fire on a club for LGBTQ people in Colorado on Saturday. Tuesday night, a Walmart manager allegedly killed six people and himself with a pistol in Virginia.

The shooting followed a mass shooting in the state two weeks ago where three University of Virginia football players were killed, allegedly by a former teammate.

On CNN Tonight, a panel discussed the shootings and what might or might not have prevented them. Gutkowski explained the nuances in gun laws, which CNN recently hired him to do as part of its new “Guns in America” team.

“Something has changed perhaps culturally or otherwise to lead to what we see now,” He said. “There hasn’t been necessarily a huge uptick in the number of public mass killings with a gun since 2006,” he said. Gutkowski cited data from the Associated Press.

Host Kasie Hunt noted Gutkowski’s publication The Reload is a favorite for many pro-gun Americans and she asked him if an uptick in mass killings is because people have access to “assault weapons.”

Gutkowski said in the case of Colorado Springs, the alleged shooter should have been prevented from buying such firearms based on the state’s red flag law and his own personal history.

Powers weighed in and blamed the issue on guns she said everyone should be banned from owning.

“One of the things that have changed in the last couple of decades is the assault weapons ban expired,” she said. Powers went on to accuse Republicans of obstructing legislation to ban certain kinds of firearms, such as those capable of holding high-capacity magazines.

Gutkowski commented, ” I just think that the shootings and mass killings we’ve seen over the past week show that it’s not just about AR-15s –.”

Powers cut him off and said, “I mean, this is like a game that you guys play. You actually are gonna sit here and say to me that there’s no connection between mass shootings and the fact that somebody doesn’t have to reload the gun that they’re using?”

Watch above, via CNN.