Tipsheet

Why AP Was Forced to Delete This Tweet About JD Vance

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  September 05, 2024 10:45 PM

When I saw the headline, I knew it was garbage. The Associated Press is back to its old games, and the victim is Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), Donald Trump’s running mate.

The headline read, “JD Vance says school shootings are a ‘fact of life,’ calls for better security.” Vance was speaking about the tragic shooting in Georgia, where Colt Gray, 14, shot and killed four people at Apalachee High School in Barrow County, Georgia. A school resource officer engaged Gray, who later surrendered to police. His father, Colin Gray, 54, was arrested today and charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter.

 The incident has reignited the debates surrounding gun control and having armed police at schools. The latter is a public safety policy that works—it’s proven. But Democrats don’t like it because it addresses the issue in a way that doesn’t involve moving the needle toward gun confiscation. The Associated Press tried to smear Vance as cold-hearted with that headline. Here’s what he said, which ironically is included in the article [emphasis mine]: 

“If these psychos are going to go after our kids we’ve got to be prepared for it,” Vance said at a rally in Phoenix. “We don’t have to like the reality that we live in, but it is the reality we live in. We’ve got to deal with it.” 

The Ohio senator was asked by a journalist what can be done to stop school shootings. He said further restricting access to guns, as many Democrats advocate, won’t end them, noting they happen in states with both lax and strict gun laws. He touted efforts in Congress to give schools more money for security. 

“I don’t like that this is a fact of life,” Vance said. “But if you are a psycho and you want to make headlines, you realize that our schools are soft targets. And we have got to bolster security at our schools. We’ve got to bolster security so if a psycho wants to walk through the front door and kill a bunch of children they’re not able.” 

He never said school shootings are a fact of life. What he actually said was, “I don’t like that this is a fact of life.” It’s pure, outright dishonesty, and it quickly got exposed: 

Corrections are in order, AP.

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UPDATE: They deleted the tweet.