Chattanooga Shooting: Fox News Reports False ISIS Tweet, Suggests ‘Arming’ Our Armed Forces

Reports about the Chattanooga shooting have been slowly trickling out throughout the day. Some reports have been accurate while others have been claimed as false.

Four marines were killed when a shooter fired on two military sites in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Since then, both authorities and the media has been calling this recent shooting an act of “terrorism.” Even some believe that it’s related to the highly dangerous Islamic terror group.

Fox News is one of those networks who have been making bogus claims about the Chattanooga shooting. The right-wing media claimed that an ISIS Twitter account warned about today’s shooting that took place in Tennessee. The tweet has been questioned by reporters after the Chattanooga shooting occurred.

Anti-Muslim activist, Pamela Geller, allegedly tipped the conservative news channel about the tweet. The tweet that Fox News reported about was posted well after the shooting in Chattanooga occurred. According to Fox News, the shooting may be related to ISIS because an ISIS member tweeted about the shooting before it happened. Fox News host Sean Hannity referenced the inaccurate information during his radio show.

“We have a report from Robert Spencer’s Jihad Watch, that he’s put together — a timeline regarding today’s, what they are now calling a domestic terrorist act in Chattanooga. We have four Marines that have been killed. By the way, our thoughts, our prayers are with the families and the entire military community there. According to the AP, the shooting started around 10:30, 10:45. The Islamic State tweeted a warning about the attack, posted at 10:34 a.m. The ISIS tweet specifically mentioned Chattanooga, which is an obvious reference to the attack. If it’s true that ISIS was taking credit for the shooting at the exact same time, or maybe slightly before the shooting commenced, that would be pretty strong evidence of a connection. And Spencer reminds us the Islamic State has called on Muslims to murder American military personnel here in the U.S.”

The inaccurate claims were also mentioned on Special Report, The Five, and Your World. Fox’s Catherine Herridge also reported the inaccurate information on air. The news anchor also showed the screengrab of the alleged tweet from the alleged ISIS account.

“The last investigative thread I would mention at this point is we’re taking a hard look at a Twitter account, an ISIS-linked Twitter account, that seemed to have foreknowledge of the shooting in Chattanooga. The tweet went out at 10:34 with the hashtag #Chattanooga, referring to American dogs and a likely shooting. This, of course, was about 15 minutes before the shooting took place, so this may be significant.”

Geller made the claim about the ISIS tweet on both her Twitter account and her blog. She wrote: “This morning an ISIS supporter tweeted this morning at 10:34 am – the shooting started at 10:45.”

Jihad Watch published the report, in which Hannity cites Geller as the source. But it was found out that the tweet was posted at 1:34 p.m., not 10:34 a.m., as Geller claimed. Whoever made the screengrab of the tweet was in a different time zone. According to several news reports, the Chattanooga shooting “unfolded at two sites in over 30 minutes” and began “around 10:45 a.m. EST.”

After it was revealed, Fox News backtracked on their claims during their Special Report with Bret Baier. Now Fox has shifted its focus on arming the armed forces in wake of the Chattanooga shooting.

On Thursday morning, July 16, four marines were killed while a fifth one was wounded. A Chattanooga police officer was also killed in the shooting. The shooting took place at two military facilities in Chattanooga, which turned out to be a gun-free zone.

Contributor Todd Starners believes that all armed military should be armed at all times.

“It’s time to arm the Armed Forces. Now, I’m sure the experts will say there’s some sort of logical reason why military personnel should not have access to firearms – but I’m not convinced. Brave Marines gunned down in a Southern city — and that is something we cannot abide. Our elected leaders must give them at least a fighting chance.”

Jon R. Lott also agrees that the military should carry guns like they do while “stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan.”

“We trust soldiers to carry guns all the time when they are stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan, but somehow when they come home we no longer trust them.”

It’s no surprise that the conservative media supports gun rights. But gun-control activists and liberal groups argue that guns never solve anything, including shootings. In fact, allowing more guns could cause more shootings and fatalities. It may even lead to more senseless acts of gun violence among civilians. These groups believe that establishing gun control laws in this country would prevent shootings, including the one in Chattanooga.

[Image: Jason Davis/Getty Images]