'It would open people's eyes': CNN's Cooper makes a bold proposal to bring home the savage reality of what an AR-15 can do

Leading into a discussion on lawmakers refusing to do anything to curb the proliferation of assault weapons, CNN host Anderson Cooper suggested that the harsh reality of what a bullet from an AR-15 can do to a body has been withheld from Americans and that a wake-up call was needed.

The introduction turned into a monologue as an emotional Cooper proposed showing the carnage to "open people's eyes."

"One of the things General McChrystal said, I think he said this in the wake of one of the shootings," Cooper began. "He said a .223-caliber round, when it hits the human body, the effects are just devastating - it's designed for that. He talked about he didn't think there was a need for that kind of weaponry on the streets. that was after Newtown."

Turning to former Republican lawmaker Jack Kingston, Cooper continued, "I often think we don't focus on the reality of what an AR-15 does to a child. If anyone has been on a battlefield and you see what a weapon like this does to a soldier, if people actually saw this and saw the saw the reality of this, it would open people's eyes."

"We all say, 'oh, these children lost their lives,'" Cooper continued choking up a bit. "They didn't lose their lives, their lives were were ripped out of their bodies, their brains were splattered on the floor, their intestines were hanging out. It was sickening."

"We're talking about this in an ant antiseptic way, and we're shocked that this kids are angry but these kids were hiding in the closets while their friends were dead," he concluded.

"And that's why the law enforcement people are standing by the young people saying, 'we do need to do something different,'" CNN host Van Jones interjected. "Republicans are saying, 'These Democrats, they're emotional, they're irrational, they're exploiting kids because they want to grab all of our guns.' They're actually the ones who are rational and sane."

"The kids hiding under the desks and the cops going to save them are saying the same exact thing, that it makes no sense at all for this to be the reality in America," Jones continued. "They have a thousand excuses. And, I have to say, whenever this thing happens, if it's a Muslim, they want to politicize it within seconds. If it's a Mexican -- build the wall. If it's a black person -- more cops and prisons. If it's a white person, it's mental health."

Watch the video below via CNN: