But if a Republican Senate candidate had fired an AR-15 at a campaign event and accidentally injured a reporter who was taken to the hospital — even just as a precaution — it would be much bigger news, from coast to coast. It would advance a preferred narrative that Republicans are a bunch of gun nuts who are reckless and dangerous when handling firearms. Luckily for Lucas Kunce, he’s a Democrat, running a long-shot bid against Josh Hawley. So to most of the national media, his firearms mishap with a reporter is just a random bad thing that happened, with no broader meaning or implication.