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What We Know About The Gun Used In The Charlie Kirk Assassination

Bonisiwe Shabane
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what we know about the gun used in the charlie kirk assassination

The gun authorities say was used to assassinate Charlie Kirk was a Mauser 98, a common bolt-action rifle typically used for hunting. The gun is a popular rifle used to hunt bigger game and has a markedly different design and function than the modern semiautomatic assault rifles that have made headlines in high-profile mass shootings. The hunting rifle, which had a heavier .30-06 caliber, dates back decades as German-made military surplus with millions produced and resold in the United States, experts told USA TODAY. Authorities say the shooter used a rifle with a mounted scope to strike Kirk in the neck. The shooter may have been less than 150 yards from Kirk, according to a USA TODAY analysis of satellite imagery. “It’s an easy shot for someone even with minimal training,” said Scott Sweetow, a firearms expert and a retired senior official in the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The Mauser 98 doesn't require an expert to be accurate at that range, according to Brandon Webb, a former Navy SEALs head sniper instructor and editor at the military lifestyle outlet SOFREP. Whether you agree or disagree with our analysis, these conversations matter for democracy. We don't take money from political groups - even a $5 donation helps us keep it that way. Multiple reputable outlets reported that investigators recovered a bolt-action, Mauser-style rifle chambered in .30-06 believed to have been used in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, with law enforcement identifying the weapon as an... Reports also note forensic links such as DNA on the trigger and spent cartridge matching the recovered firearm, but some sources stop short of a definitive model identification and emphasize investigatory uncertainty [4] [5]. 1.

What reporting converges on the rifle’s identity and why that matters Media organizations converged on the core claim that a bolt-action, high-powered rifle was recovered and believed to be the weapon used in Charlie Kirk’s killing, repeatedly describing the gun as an older Mauser-pattern rifle... The Mauser Model 98 is singled out by multiple accounts as the likely platform, a historically common German military bolt-action that has been widely circulated and sometimes converted to different calibers, which matters because... That convergence strengthens the basic identification while leaving model-level certainty somewhat open. 2. Where the reports differ and why those differences are significant

Fox News Digital sees police officers taping off the crime scene where conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated on Utah Valley University's campus. The gun recovered by authorities in the assassination of Charlie Kirk was a bolt-action rifle — a common hunting weapon valued for its reliability but limited to a single shot before reloading. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, who described Kirk's assassination as a "watershed moment," said during a Friday press conference that inscriptions were detected on bullet casings found with the rifle. Inscriptions on a fired casing read: "notices, bulges, OwO, what's this?" Other unused casings read, "Hey fascist! Catch!" and "If you read this you are gay lmao," Cox said.

Unlike a semiautomatic, the shooter must manually operate the bolt handle to cycle the weapon: lifting and pulling it back moves the spent cartridge, while pushing it forward chambers a new round from the... Lowering the bolt locks the round and seals the chamber, making the rifle ready to fire again — a simple, durable design that has kept it popular among hunters and target shooters. "This process limits the rate of fire, you can only take one shot at a time," explained retired Marine Lt. Col. Hal Kempfer in an interview with Fox News Digital. (Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Losee Center building near where conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem on Wednesday, Sept.

10, 2025. The man accused of killing conservative commentator Charlie Kirk got the gun authorities say he used in the fatal Utah Valley University shooting from his grandfather, according to charging documents filed Tuesday. The suspect also described the messages he allegedly engraved into bullet casings that authorities later recovered from the scene as “mostly a big meme.” Prosecutors held a news conference Tuesday after formally filing charges against Tyler James Robinson, 22, in connection with Kirk’s killing. Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray, who is leading the prosecution, said they intend to seek the death penalty. According to a probable cause statement filed after Robinson was first arrested early Friday, the gun used in the shooting was a Mauser Model 98, .30-06 caliber bolt-action rifle with a mounted scope.

The hunting-style rifle is able to hold five rounds. A rifle recovered in the hunt for conservative influencer Charlie Kirk’s assassin contained ammo engraved with “transgender and anti-fascist ideology,” according to preliminary reports from law enforcement sources. The weapon — an imported .30-06-caliber Mauser bolt-action rifle — was discovered wrapped in a towel by investigators in a wooded area following the killing of the conservative leading light, who was shot once... A source familiar noted that the Justice Department is investigating the descriptions alleged in the ATF memo, but that the agency was unable to confirm that the description matched the evidence recovered at the... Kirk, 31, was struck in the neck by a single shot fired from a distance of around 200 yards while answering an audience member’s question about mass shootings committed by transgender people. Follow The Post’s live coverage of the Charlie Kirk shooting for the latest news and updates

Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; editing by Paul Thomasch and Lincoln Feast. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Kanishka Singh is a breaking news reporter for Reuters in Washington DC, who primarily covers US politics and national affairs in his current role. His past breaking news coverage has spanned across a range of topics like the Black Lives Matter movement; the US elections; the 2021 Capitol riots and their follow up probes; the Brexit deal; US-China... (Catch all the US News, UK News, Canada News, International Breaking News Events, and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.) Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily International News Updates.

(Catch all the US News, UK News, Canada News, International Breaking News Events, and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.) Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily International News Updates. Are Facebook ads helping users buy illegal drugs by mail in Canada - Drugs travel through an ad to a postal delivery; $9 million worth of illegal drugs were turned over to police in... In the frantic hours after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, investigators discovered a gun in a wooded area near the scene in northern Utah. The federal agents seeking to trace the weapon faced a daunting task. It was a decades-old, German-made rifle built for use by the military in both World Wars, according to multiple law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation.

So old that it may have been brought into the U.S. before laws were enacted in the 1960s requiring guns to be affixed with serial numbers or other marks to enable tracing. There are believed to be millions of such weapons in homes across America. Fortunately for investigators, the alleged shooter was identified through other means — his family — who convinced him to surrender to police. But the alleged use of such a vintage weapon has raised fears among some former federal agents of the potential for other would-be assassins to seek out these powerful, accurate and hard-to-trace firearms. “Short of the security afforded to the president, there’s no way to defend against the threat posed by this,” said Scott Sweetow, a retired official with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

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The gun authorities say was used to assassinate Charlie Kirk was a Mauser 98, a common bolt-action rifle typically used for hunting. The gun is a popular rifle used to hunt bigger game and has a markedly different design and function than the modern semiautomatic assault rifles that have made headlines in high-profile mass shootings. The hunting rifle, which had a heavier .30-06 caliber, dates bac...

The Mauser 98 Doesn't Require An Expert To Be Accurate

The Mauser 98 doesn't require an expert to be accurate at that range, according to Brandon Webb, a former Navy SEALs head sniper instructor and editor at the military lifestyle outlet SOFREP. Whether you agree or disagree with our analysis, these conversations matter for democracy. We don't take money from political groups - even a $5 donation helps us keep it that way. Multiple reputable outlets ...

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What reporting converges on the rifle’s identity and why that matters Media organizations converged on the core claim that a bolt-action, high-powered rifle was recovered and believed to be the weapon used in Charlie Kirk’s killing, repeatedly describing the gun as an older Mauser-pattern rifle... The Mauser Model 98 is singled out by multiple accounts as the likely platform, a historically common...

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Unlike A Semiautomatic, The Shooter Must Manually Operate The Bolt

Unlike a semiautomatic, the shooter must manually operate the bolt handle to cycle the weapon: lifting and pulling it back moves the spent cartridge, while pushing it forward chambers a new round from the... Lowering the bolt locks the round and seals the chamber, making the rifle ready to fire again — a simple, durable design that has kept it popular among hunters and target shooters. "This proce...