"The word, "pellets", used following up the word, "hunting rifles", it was all an effort to confuse and throw dirt in the eyes of the reader, IMO."
Probably it was just a bad translation from a French article.
In French, the word for rifle is "fusil". And the word for shotgun is "fusil".
So, if someone was translating an article from a French source, he (or his Babblefish program) translated the pellets, but then translated "fusil" as "rifle", which is the normal translation, instead of "shotgun", which would have been idiomatic in English.
" In French, the word for rifle is "fusil". And the word for shotgun is "fusil". "
I appreciate your take. Now I have to ask, aren't those nutbar reporters a bit curious? Don't they know that rifles don't shoot pellets? No one should cover a riot unless that person has basic knowledge about weapons and violence, for goodness sake.