You wanta understand that not everybody is swayed by John Wayne rhetoric.
I think you would have gotten even further if you just focused on the internal incosistencies in the story and maybe hit some angle like the absurdity of denying others the right to self-defense because of a footballer's mental instability. Maybe a little projection about uncaring, numb society.
And, of course, the easiest target--that a sports writer belches political opinions on a whole different subject.
If you really wanted to barb it, you could ask Fox if that was the best journalist/writer they could find at the time.