The last thing wanted to write about on Wednesday was a shooting literally anywhere, but particularly during the Kansas City Chiefs celebration for winning the Superbowl. It's an achievement, and even if they've been there before, you know everyone want to have a good time.
Gunshots ringing out at something like that had to be terrifying.
As I noted on Wednesday, the immediate aftermath of what happened wasn't the time to talk politics. We needed to at least wait until all the facts were in.
For the folks over at Raw Story, though, well...worrying about facts are irrelevant. What matters is trying to paint the governor of Missouri, Mike Parson, as a hypocrite or something.
Why? Because he supposedly ran from the gunfire.
Someone who says they ran away from the mass shooting at the Chiefs parade on Wednesday says they saw someone else running: a GOP governor who frequently touts his support for firearms.
...
Patrick Quaife, identified on his social media as a KC alum, posted his observations after escaping the gunfire.
"I just ran away from a mass shooting at the Chiefs parade where I saw the Missouri governor (the gun lover below) running scared for his life next to me with an army of officers protecting him," Quaife wrote, including a photo of the governor supporting "responsible, law-abiding gun owners."
"I am so sick of these NRA funded politicians," Quaife added along with a support for gun control.
First, let's remember this is just one random dude with a clear political axe to grind claiming he saw the governor "running scared for his life."
Yet even if it's completely accurate, so what?
Running from gunfire isn't crazy or hypocritical, even if you're vehemently pro-gun. It's common sense, particularly when you're unarmed.
Further, I doubt the governor was given literally any choice in the matter. Security details make that decision and will shuffle off with their principal whether he wants to go or not. Granted, under the circumstances, I'm sure he wasn't putting up much of a fight.
Again, running from gunshots is a sane, normal response.
Does that somehow invalidate his position on the right to keep and bear arms? Hardly. The underlying principle in defending the Second Amendment is that no one should have to stand there and get shot. Why would Parson just stand there to also be shot when that would accomplish nothing.
If he had, he'd be blasted as being too stupid to be governor and then, if he were shot, people would be pressing him as to why he didn't become anti-gun.
What's funny to me is that Raw Story, which may not exactly be the Washington Post, even bothered to run this.
Yes, they're a progressive news site, but this is laughable even by their standards. Quaife is, basically, a nobody. He's got fewer than 4,000 followers on X, formerly Twitter, and doesn't seem to be anyone of note with regard to politics, sports, or literally anything else. Why would his word be so newsworthy?
The short answer is that it's not. There's literally no news here. However, Raw Story saw what they thought was an opportunity to hit at Parson, not realizing that no one really cares if he was swept away by security or not.
But remember that Quaife ran, too, and he's not thrilled with getting hate for it.
If you want to know how truly rotten humans can be...just understand I've had hundreds of crazies in my mentions calling me names and weak for not running towards a mass shooting.
— Patrick Quaife (@pquaife) February 14, 2024
Just the dumbest and most vile thoughts. I can't imagine being that toxic and hateful.
Now, I don't blame him for running and I think most of the people giving him hate are doing so because he mocked Parson for doing exactly what he, himself did. His support for gun control doesn't make him any better about running, nor does it make him any worse.
But he does qualify as something of a dirtbag for turning this political in the immediate aftermath and trying to mock Parson for doing something that any rational person would do, particularly if they're unarmed.
