Now Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace of South Carolina is under fire. She shared a widely-circulated image online of a completely innocent man, misidentifying him as a campus shooter. On Sunday, the University of South Carolina (USC) had a really scary moment. The state university sent an emergency alert of a “credible report” for an active shooter at the university’s library.
Within moments of the alert being issued, Mace was hard at work spreading the word with a humorous umbrella guy photo. He otherwise incorrectly identified this person as the accused shooter. She drew the ire of a number of stakeholder groups and later rescinded her original statement. These days, she says, the threat might be “real, or a hoax, or a mistake.” On that last point, Mace was clear that she wants to encourage conversations about increased security presence at schools.
Mace’s personal ties to the university gives her response an added layer of urgency. She has a daughter now attending USC and called the night of the incident “terrifying.”
“Frantically calling my child to see if they were at the library or barricaded somewhere else on campus, making sure they and their roommates were safe, your heart just drops to the ground, for a minute you can’t breathe,” – Nancy Mace
Here’s the uncontrolled scene that resulted in her taking a knee and an evacuation of students from USC’s library. This resulted in a handful of people suffering minor injuries, with EMS treating people on site. Yet officials from the institution reiterated that there were never any reports of shots fired during the alarm.
Unfortunately, that’s exactly what Mace’s post ignited—immediate backlash from every prominent figure. One of them was gun control activist Fred Guttenberg, who rightly hammered her for propagating dangerous disinformation. He said that her inaccurate identification almost led to a critical outcome.
“Now would be an appropriate time to talk about how to appropriately punish you for this false post that could have gotten someone killed … everything about you and your messaging is the problem. Seek help as I firmly believe you are in need,” – Fred Guttenberg
Additionally, right-wing commentator Matt Walsh sarcastically expressed gratitude towards Mace for her actions, saying he was “really grateful for Nancy Mace. She bravely alerted the public to the dangers of a guy carrying an umbrella.”
The troubling incident is indicative of the larger debate surrounding gun safety and school security taking place across the country. As of July 25, the country has experienced 34 school shootings in 2022. Out of these, 19 have occurred on college campuses. A recent CNN analysis found that these attacks have claimed 15 lives and injured at least 41 victims seriously enough to require hospitalization.
Mace’s first spotting of the man with the umbrella drew praise and criticism from both conservative and liberal commentators on gun control. She argued that today is the right time to take a look at more universal, stricter security measures in all schools and universities.
“Real, or a hoax, or a mistake, now would be an appropriate time to talk about hardened security at schools of all grades, colleges and universities,” – Nancy Mace