(Update: Got a scolding from one of my gun toting friends about how many sportsterized Mauser actions there are in the world. Basically the really long forearm military stock gets replaced with a trim, modern stock. I think no need for bayonet usage and weight reduction are what drive this. This is part of why the M14 battle rifle in 7.62x51mm gave way to the M16 assault rifle in 5.56x45mm. Short jungle distances and diminutive allies like the Hmong drove this change.)
Some of the many issues in Who Killed Charlie Kirk? have been cleared.
White male, not MTF trans, still has muscle for acrobatics getting off the roof.
Reportedly young enough to blend in with college crowds and slip away.
A variety of things have gotten WORSE in my mind, and they center around this:
This is purportedly the gun found wrapped in a towel in the woods.
Facts:
Chatter about pro-trans stuff on ammo seems to be just a rumor.
Identification as .30-06 is now up in the air, it’s just “high powered”.
Go watch the suspect video, he was NOT carrying this off the roof.
Nor did he throw it down then pick it up again.
Early description as a Mauser seems WAY off base.
Action & Stock:
Here are some real Mauser actions. Does that look like what’s in the poor quality photo? Note the ratio of the lever to what’s behind the lever, and the stair step taper in the real ones.
Now carefully compare with the Remington 700 SPS Tactical. The cutout in the butt stock in particular is a match. I thought it a Remington 700 the instant I saw it.
Clarity:
We should be starting to get some clarity on this.
Instead we’ve got a shitshow.
Vice President hauling Kirk’s body for burial in Air Force 2.
FBI director goes on site seemingly wanting to capitalize on a quick success.
Faulty information about progress gets retracted.
The FBI should be in charge of this, due to Kirk’s high profile.
The FBI should be withholding details about the weapon and other facts, that’s typical investigation practice. But the urge for media attention is the very soul of the Trump administration, and the leaks of varying credibility are helping no one, other than the conspiracy theorists who are running wild.
Sniping:
Two of my college friends were snipers - one Marine Corps, one Rangers. The whole “get to the bell tower” is a movie trope. You don’t get up high unless you need a commanding view. You lay in close, stay put after the shot while the regulars who were with the target go running for the nearest hilltop, the sideslip out.
My Faulty Theory:
So I thought maybe the shooter was in the woods and this kid on the roof was just taking pictures with a phone. Hearing the shot, seeing the stir, he panics, while the shooter just walks away. The only reason the gun is quickly found is that rooftop just happened to run right through shooter’s abandoned position.
That idea was quickly debunked by checking the scene. Kirk was killed at the center of the amphitheater at the bottom left, just below the letter “g”. The wooded area where the gun was found is at the top. There are Google Street view photo points on campus, there’s no line of sight from the woods to the amphitheater, let alone one high enough to get at a target in the sunken center of the amphitheater. So scratch that theory.
But a conspiracy theorist somewhere has probably already launched some Kennedy assassination “two shooter theory” type bullshit.
Conclusion:
I think this is a bad development on the path of our cold civil war turning hot. Kirk is the Christian Nationalist equivalent of what Martin Luther King was to the Civil Rights Movement.
So after years of periodic dead white girl martyrdom, now we’ve got the real deal.
Just as Trump is failing.
Just as the Epstein list is being covered up.
Just as the economy is crashing due to tariffs.
Recall what I said in Our Oncoming Civil War:
We are still “left of boom”, but I very much worry as that as temperatures rise here in 2025, we’re going to cross a point of no return. Once the tit for tat faucet is opened even a crack … well … look at what’s left of Syria, fourteen years into their experiment with communal violence.
A lot of right wing media figures are talking vengeance rather than justice. If you are following this Substack you have no right to say “but nobody could have predicted”.
Bonus Conspiracy Theory: despite being a white male, rooftop will not be taken alive, so the administration can better control the narrative. They don’t need to give this directive, it’s baked into how the system works.
Taken alive, just a white boy.