Carlson mentioned vandalism but not violence against police officers, which indisputably occurred even if it was not typical. His characterization of the Capitol invaders as “orderly” is hard to reconcile with his description of the scene as “mostly peaceful chaos.” The adjective meek likewise seems inapt for people who entered the Capitol without permission as Congress was ratifying the results of the 2020 presidential election, precisely because they objected to that ceremony, which they erroneously saw as confirming an illegitimate result.

Even if they did not break anything, steal anything, or attack anyone, the protesters should have known they were not supposed to be in the building, and their unauthorized presence was itself a criminal offense, albeit a relatively minor one. Many of them did act more like curious “sightseers” than angry rioters, but they were still breaking the law and in some cases arguably intended to disrupt the electoral vote count, which is what in fact happened.

Still, it is accurate to say most of the protesters were not violent, a point confirmed by the numbers that the Times cites. Of the 1,000 or so people who have been arrested in connection with the Capitol invasion, it says, 326 “have been charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers or employees.” That group includes “106 individuals who have been charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer.” In other words, about two-thirds of the protesters who have been arrested were charged with nonviolent misdemeanors.

[Be sure to read it all. If we had had a reasonably detached and balanced congressional committee to investigate this, they would have probably come close to Sullum’s conclusions. In the end, we have been left with unreliable narrators. Perhaps better narrators will emerge if and when all of the records of January 6 are made public. — Ed]