News anchor sums up America's gun problem by referencing 'back to school' shooting

School shootings in America are an all too common phenomenon and one news anchor made it abundantly clear with an awkward slip of the tongue on live TV.

The moment was captured by TikToker Emmi, who caught the moment ABC news anchor Maria Stephanos said “back to school shoot-, shopping” before giving a wide-eyed look to the camera as she corrected herself.

Emmi captioned the clip: “someone has got to check on her because if that were me i’d walk into oncoming tr4ff1c.”

So far the video had racked up 8.9 million views and the text overlay on the clip read, “There’s no way that just happened”.

In the comments, people suggested her reflex to say “school shooting” proves that it is something that happens far too often in the United States.

In 2022 so far, there have been 27 school shootings – it is a figure that could still rise as school children return to the classrooms after the summer.

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One commenter pointed out: “In all fairness, back to school shopping only happens once a year.”

Another person wrote: “the way it just is so normalized in our lives.”

Someone else said: “That's how you know it's too common.”

“I say school shooting more than I say school shopping too girl lol,” one person argued.

Another suggested: “They’re too used to reporting on it.”

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