Alright, let’s break down this circus of an event, shall we? Democratic Missouri Senate candidate Lucas Kunce hosted a gun range event, and it ended with a bullet ricocheting and hitting a reporter.
🚨 NEW: Disgraced former Congressman Adam Kinzinger and Democrat MO Senate nominee Lucas Kunce went shooting today for a photo-op, and a reporter ended up being SH0T
Absolutely incredible.
These idiots decided it’d be a good idea to shoot metal plates with an AR-15 from just… pic.twitter.com/NcIh4QimNC
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) October 23, 2024
And just to make things a little stranger, it turns out the guy who set up this little adventure, Chad Everett Downs, claims that Kunce and the reporter completely ignored his safety instructions. But here’s where it gets rich: Downs, the “safety expert” in this story, has a background of his own—one that includes a whopping 17 counts of felony perjury. If that’s not a recipe for irony, what is?
Now, Downs apparently posted in a private Facebook group after the incident, claiming he told Kunce and the reporter where they needed to stand to avoid injury. According to him, they chose to ignore this advice. So, naturally, Downs claims it’s no big deal, dismissing the stray bullet as just “frag”—because, you know, getting hit by metal fragments is just part of the experience, right? Downs even boasted that he’s been hit “probably 250 times.” That’s some safety record to brag about at the range.
What’s even more eyebrow-raising is that Downs might not even legally be allowed near firearms. Missouri court records reveal that Downs is under investigation for felony perjury and is out on bond, with conditions that allegedly bar him from accessing guns. Yet, here he is, managing a gun range and hosting a campaign event for a Senate hopeful. And if you’re wondering where the Kunce campaign is on all of this, they’re claiming the range was set up and run by an “NRA Training Counselor.” Well, Downs’s Facebook page does indeed list him as an “NRA Training Counselor,” but at this point, that title feels about as credible as his safety practices.
Of course, Kunce’s campaign did the usual political backpedal, ensuring the public that “safety is important to us,” which doesn’t exactly match up with the bullet that found its way to a reporter. Downs, meanwhile, added fuel to the fire in the Facebook group, engaging in a little back-and-forth with another user who dared to question his range setup. When the commenter suggested that Downs should bear some responsibility for the incident, Downs shot back with sarcastic digs about “Navy SEAL training,” dodging any accountability.
And if the absurdity wasn’t high enough, when the Daily Caller reached out to Downs for an interview, he replied with a $5,000 price tag for the “truth.” He claims he even made a video detailing the range setup, but apparently, you’d better cough up the cash if you want to see it. So, what started as a Democratic Senate campaign event somehow ended with a “safety instructor” boasting about bullet fragments, 17 felony counts, and a $5,000 paywall for the “truth.”
Lucas Kunce staged an unsafe photo op that nearly got someone killed.
Now we’re learning that the man who hosted it is a charged felon who may not even be allowed to own guns? @LucasKunceMO needs to start answering questions. pic.twitter.com/bP7I3g2xnW
— Abigail Jackson 🇺🇸 (@abigailmarone) October 25, 2024
Only in politics could a gun range safety incident turn into a comedy of errors this epic. The whole thing sounds more like a reality show than a serious campaign event, and if this is what passes for safety and accountability on the left, no wonder Kunce’s campaign is facing some heat.
Lucas Kunce is a total phony, just like Kamala. Kunce wanted a fake photo op so bad … he almost killed a guy for it! pic.twitter.com/xx0w1tSMsV
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) October 24, 2024