So, it turns out that the supposed mass shooting at Ohio State University today was actually a mass stabbing allegedly perpetrated by a 20-year-old Somali refugee named Ali Mohammed, who drove his car into a crowd and then hopped out, hacking innocents with a butcher knife.
This has been a humiliating experience for the left, which immediately jumped to typical gun control talking points based on their desired story. #GunControl began trending on Twitter. Major personalities sounded off:
Deeply saddened by the senseless act of gun violence at Ohio State this morning. Praying for the injured and the entire Buckeye community
— Senator Tim Kaine (@timkaine) November 28, 2016
For school shooting victims it’s not too soon to discuss our nation’s lax gun laws – it’s too late
Ohio State University pic.twitter.com/oWzYmf4wbf
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) November 28, 2016
Today is yet another was a sad day in our country because of a senseless shooting at an Ohio State University.
— Sheila Jackson Lee (@JacksonLeeTX18) November 28, 2016
Then there were those who realized that they’d gotten the story wrong, but still stuck with the gun control narrative:
What’s happened at Ohio State is terrible. But “mass stabber leaves 8 people with non-life-threatening injuries” is why gun control matters.
— Adam Feldman (@FeldmanAdam) November 28, 2016
No, actually, it’s an argument for students having guns to stop bad guys with knives, considering that this assailant was only stopped by a cop with a gun.
But this is the problem with the narrative-ization of news: everyone’s already looking for a story to be a peg for their broader worldview. If the peg won’t fit, well dammit, the story will have to change. Each violent incident should be analyzed on its own merits – and certainly on its own facts. Because that’s too much to ask for, apparently, we’ll all retreat into our ideological safe spaces as news breaks, waiting for details that confirm what we already thought about the universe, facts be damned.