The Washington Free Beacon would never condone violence against our fellow man.
But we are proud to bestow a Man of the Year award upon Lucas Kunce, the Missouri Democrat and (failed, obviously) Senate candidate who committed gun violence against the lower life form known as the "journalist" during a campaign stop in October.
Kunce, whose investment vehicle of choice is a collection of Magic: The Gathering trading cards, never had much of a chance against Republican incumbent Josh Hawley. He ended up losing the race by nearly 14 points.
Perhaps those long odds are what drove Kunce to madness. At a firing range with former airline pilot Adam Kinzinger, Kunce (who was educated at Yale and Columbia) in all his brilliance decided to fire an AR-15 less than 10 feet from a steel target.
Predictably, the bullet exploded on impact, and shrapnel ended up striking a nearby journalist. Images from the incident show the reporter covered in blood. Kinzinger sadistically grinned nearby.
"A great day at the range," Kunce exclaimed later that day. A great day indeed.
Although there was a police investigation into the incident, it doesn’t appear any charges were brought. No surprise there from the great law enforcement officers in Missouri.
Criminalizing violence against journalists, after all, would be akin to outlawing free speech altogether. Both are constitutionally guaranteed rights, even if the liberals out in Montana managed to coerce Greg Gianforte into a guilty plea when he body-slammed pint-sized journo Ben Jacobs in 2017. Thankfully, that conviction did not deter Kunce, who took Gianforte's brave lead and ramped things up a notch. Not bad for a Democrat.
A male college cheerleader never goes down without a fight, so we are excited to see what Kunce does next. Perhaps his next election will go better now that he can say he is a Washington Free Beacon Man of the Year.