[Maru]

Originally Posted by emseateng2014

the reports about the assassination on mediaite.com is nuts like how the right mostly from fox news are having meltdowns but more like getting all fired up about how its all just the left fault

like 1st of all we still do not know who killed charlie and 2nd of all we do not know which side he or she is with and 3rd thing what if the killer is someone from the right then what will happen

Yeah the wrong lessons are being learned, atm:

[Mystic Mock]

Originally Posted by jones89

Shocking. RIP

America is really going to sh*t huh?

Unfortunately America has been in the shitter since about 2015-2016 period.

This is them carrying on their spiral imo.

[Mystic Mock]

Originally Posted by Maru

I would have to disagree. The last thing one would want to do after someone was just shot dead for expressing their free speech is to try to crack down on the rights of others to defend themselves in the rest of the country. That would go very poorly and we would find out actually it is in fact much harder to ban guns than it would be knives in the US because the political blow back would be immediate.

Timing would be important I do agree with you on that.

I was thinking more on America should slowly over the decades make it less of a societal norm for guns to be used in everyday life, kind of like how the UK has slowly phased Cigarettes out of regular use.

[Maru]

Originally Posted by Mystic Mock

Timing would be important I do agree with you on that.

I was thinking more on America should slowly over the decades make it less of a societal norm for guns to be used in everyday life, kind of like how the UK has slowly phased Cigarettes out of regular use.

I don't see that happening for a number of reasons, much of which isn't even relevant atm. But especially now, as people are starting to become more self-aware about their own politics and are testing boundaries, some boundaries that the government and other individuals out in the wild seem very passionate about using as a justification to strip other's rights.

In the UK I understand the political environment is very different. But for us, it's considered a fundamental natural right and the most natural mandate as a citizen is very more closely tied to the means to self-defense. I would even guess it's a non-negotiable for much larger portions of the country than not.

We can talk about what restrictions and laws might come into play to help mitigate disaster (a different discussion), but an outright ban at this point isn't remotely conceivable. Especially as political violence is increasing. The whole point of 2A is exactly for politically dire situations like this where govt or agencies may use any context to repress or interfere with the individual rights of its citizens. Without making this post much longer, it's foundational to the formation of America.

[Alf]

What's the name for those people who shoot people dead, who disagree with them on some issues?

Remember when they tried the same but failed on Donald Trump?

What do you call these people who murder their political opponents in cold blood? What's the name for it?

[Alf]

Two young children have lost their dad forever.

For what? Because he had a different opinion than you.

[Maru]

Pretty sad coming from TMZ...

Edit: TMZ apology: https://www.tmz.com/2025/09/10/charl...-newsroom-tmz/

[Maru]

Bolt action rifle of some kind... (probably hunting rifle)

[Alf]

Still, at least it's taken people's thoughts away from the latest Peter Mandleson story. That one can go away quietly.

[Maru]

People are being mental in the comments:

Also looks like it was a pellet gun:

[Maru]

Kinda fishy if that's the only gun they had because it's a .22 and it doesn't do that kind of damage... this is why it's better to wait until all the facts come out:

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1022565033?pid=841233

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Maru

Kinda fishy if that's the only gun they had because it's a .22 and it doesn't do that kind of damage... this is why it's better to wait until all the facts come out:

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1022565033?pid=841233

You were right Maru this guy has been released

[Mystic Mock]

Originally Posted by Maru

I don't see that happening for a number of reasons, much of which isn't even relevant atm. But especially now, as people are starting to become more self-aware about their own politics and are testing boundaries, some boundaries that the government and other individuals out in the wild seem very passionate about using as a justification to strip other's rights.

In the UK I understand the political environment is very different. But for us, it's considered a fundamental natural right and the most natural mandate as a citizen is very more closely tied to the means to self-defense. I would even guess it's a non-negotiable for much larger portions of the country than not.

We can talk about what restrictions and laws might come into play to help mitigate disaster (a different discussion), but an outright ban at this point isn't remotely conceivable. Especially as political violence is increasing. The whole point of 2A is exactly for politically dire situations like this where govt or agencies may use any context to repress or interfere with the individual rights of its citizens. Without making this post much longer, it's foundational to the formation of America.

You do make strong points tbh.

[Mystic Mock]

Originally Posted by Alf

Still, at least it's taken people's thoughts away from the latest Peter Mandleson story. That one can go away quietly.

He sounds like a charming character.

[bots]

From my view in the UK, it just doesn't seem like a viable option to try and ban guns in the USA. It's not going to stop bad actors using them and banning them at this point with the saturation of guns there are would only disadvantage law abiding citizens

It's just not comparable to the UK

It does seem like political violence is getting worse, but to me, that's not a gun problem, it's a general level of intolerance that is spreading everywhere and that has roots emanating from hundreds/thousands of sources and amplified by social media

[Glenn.]

Originally Posted by Alf

Two young children have lost their dad forever.

For what? Because he had a different opinion than you.

In fairness, bigotry isn’t an opinion. I’m not condoning what happened but let’s not blur the lines there.

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Alf

Still, at least it's taken people's thoughts away from the latest Peter Mandleson story. That one can go away quietly.

That story is not going away, what about Trump? up to his neck in it

[BBXX]

I’m stunned by this. Nobody’s death should be celebrated, but I understand why some aren’t mourning him either.

Charlie Kirk had some abhorrent views, and as much as those views disgust me he has a right to have them and while others have a right to call them what they are and question him, nobody has a right to take another life.

I feel sorry for his family.

Charlie Kirk once said that we can’t let shooting victims emotionally hijack the narrative and so hopefully Trump follows through with his wishes and we can move on and let his family grieve in private without politicising Charlie’s death - because it’s absolutely what he wouldn’t want…

[Ammi]

…so the shooter wasn’t the shooter, then…and they remain out there, which obviously keeps the lives of others at risk from that same hand and that same fate…

[bots]

Originally Posted by Ammi

…so the shooter wasn’t the shooter, then…and they remain out there, which obviously keeps the lives of others at risk from that same hand and that same fate…

Some people are saying it was a shooter with a rifle on a nearby roof. I would think they could verify that fairly quickly.

I would be concerned that it encourages nutters to go out and shoot those that don't share their political opinions because america is building up to a powder keg.

[Maru]

Originally Posted by bots

From my view in the UK, it just doesn't seem like a viable option to try and ban guns in the USA. It's not going to stop bad actors using them and banning them at this point with the saturation of guns there are would only disadvantage law abiding citizens

It's just not comparable to the UK

It does seem like political violence is getting worse, but to me, that's not a gun problem, it's a general level of intolerance that is spreading everywhere and that has roots emanating from hundreds/thousands of sources and amplified by social media

There's been a progressive rise in sociopathy that's been missed, I think. So it turns out even the meekest amongst us can morph into hardened criminals seemingly overnight.

And we may very well be interacting with good numbers of these people on the regular, without our knowledge (especially online). Those little interactions here and there add up and influence our worldview and probably not for the greater good...

[Maru]

MAUREEN CALLAHAN: Charlie Kirk's body wasn't even cold... before the fighting started again. Do these ghouls not see where this is head
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-callahan.html

Shot in the neck.

Not the head or the heart, but the neck — the throat, really, and that seems deliberate: Shut Charlie Kirk up, forever.

A self-made autodidact with no college education, a husband and father of two, 31-year-old Kirk embodied the American dream.

Through grit, hard work and ingenuity, he bypassed traditional media to become a podcasting powerhouse and an unofficial adviser to President Trump.

As the founder, face and CEO of Turning Point USA, he routinely toured college campuses — and it was at Utah Valley University that Kirk was shot in the neck while speaking.

Approximately four hours later, President Trump announced, on Truth Social, that Kirk had died.

'The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!'

Before Kirk's death was confirmed, the ghouls over at MSNBC were blaming the victim — a man shot while exercising free speech, which you'd think media pundits would understand.

Respect, even. But no.

Spoiler:

Host Katy Tur walked right up to saying that Kirk had it coming, calling him 'divisive' and 'polarizing.'

Her guest, political analyst Matthew Dowd, went further — theorizing that rednecks on the right might have shot Kirk by accident.

'We don't know if this is a supporter shooting their gun off in celebration,' Dowd said.

Let that sink in.

Dowd is a liberal elite, a fixture of establishment Democrats and media, with the temerity to call Kirk's followers reckless and dumb enough to shoot their own hero out of misguided excitement.

Of course something this awful, this preventable and tragic, was bound to happen.

One only needs to hear the cynical, sub-human rhetoric in left-leaning media — and a culture that valorizes a stone-cold killer like Luigi Mangione — to realize that we now most resemble America circa 1963-1968.

JFK, assassinated in November 1963. Martin Luther King, assassinated in April 1968. Bobby Kennedy, assassinated two months later in June.

New generations now know the fear, the panic, the despair of mortal political grievance.

Have we really learned nothing?

President Trump, himself shot in Butler, PA just months before the 2024 presidential election. A second would-be assassin arrested just two months later, in September, at Trump's golf course.

June 2025: In the early morning hours of June 14, Minnesota state senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette were shot upon opening their door to a man dressed as law enforcement. The shooter then went to the residence of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and murdered them in their home in a targeted political assassination. (The Hoffmans survived.)

Her guest, political analyst Matthew Dowd (pictured), went further — theorizing that rednecks on the right might have shot Kirk by accident

April 13, 2025: An arsonist firebombed the home of PA governor Josh Shapiro, who was inside with his wife and children, by a would-be assassin who said he was motivated by what Shapiro 'wants to do to Palestine'.

October 28, 2022: Paul Pelosi, the elderly husband of then-House Speaker Nancy, is assaulted in their San Francisco home by a man wielding a clawhammer. Pelosi survived but required skull surgery.

June 14, 2017: House Majority Whip Steve Scalise is shot and critically injured in a mass shooting at the annual Congressional baseball game in Alexandria, Virginia.

January 8, 2011: U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords is shot in the head by a would-be assassin while holding a 'Congress on Your Corner' meet-and-greet outside a Safeway in Casas Adobes, Arizona.

And that's just a sampling for this millennium.

Kirk's assassination is different, of course, because he wasn't an elected official. He was a thinker, an author, a podcast host and a commentator who believed in the free expression of ideas.

Who reveled in the parry, the provocative idea, the engagement with the opposing political party.

But orthodoxy of thought no longer allows for that.

Orthodoxy of thought requires that the mainstream media falls in line when Trump is compared to Adolf Hitler or is called an authoritarian madman intent on destroying democracy.

It requires that friends and family members of good faith, in otherwise good standing, be excised and excommunicated for having different beliefs — the long hangover of COVID, lockdowns, vaccine-and-mask mandates.

We can't even come together to mourn the loss of life. It depends how you voted, just like everything else circa now: What side are you on?

When Rep. Lauren Boebert asked for a moment of silence for Kirk on the House floor, she was met with a chorus of 'NO!' from Democrats.

Will it be enough, for those who seek to excuse or explain away Kirk's assassination, that Barack Obama has outright condemned such medieval savagery?

'This kind of political violence has no place in our democracy,' he wrote on X. 'Michelle and I will be praying for Charlie's family tonight, especially his wife Erika and their two young children'.

President Trump lowered the American flag that flies atop the White House to half-mast and has ordered all flags to be lowered until Sunday night.

Rest in peace Charlie Kirk. You were an increasingly rare breed: A true believer who sought to converse — and connect — with your opponents.

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Maru

There's been a progressive rise in sociopathy that's been missed, I think. So it turns out even the meekest amongst us can morph into hardened criminals seemingly overnight.

And we may very well be interacting with good numbers of these people on the regular, without our knowledge (especially online). Those little interactions here and there add up and influence our worldview and probably not for the greater good...

…a section taken from an article that I was reading yesterday ….

The shooting comes as a series of incidents over the past year show an increased level of violence related to political disagreements or intended to achieve political goals.

Trump faced two assassination attempts in 2024. Last December, a shooter targeted and killed the head of United Healthcare. Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro’s home was burned in an arson attack in April. Judges and elected officials report increased threats and harassment. Several instances of violence have stemmed from opposition to the Gaza war. In June, a man dressed as a police officer shot and killed a Democratic Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband, and wounded another state lawmaker and his wife. A gunman attacked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in August, killing a police officer.

Surveys have shown increased acceptance of using violence for political aims across party spectrums. Robert Pape, who directs the Chicago Project on Security and Threats, wrote in the New York Times that a survey his team conducted in May was its “most worrisome yet”. “About 40 percent of Democrats supported the use of force to remove Mr. Trump from the presidency, and about 25 percent of Republicans supported the use of the military to stop protests against Mr. Trump’s agenda. These numbers more than doubled since last fall, when we asked similar questions,” he wrote.

…it’s what we have been saying and fearing for so long, though and has become now what we’re seeing…how the world has become divided and for all and any, is becoming so dangerous…and while all media’s encourage and nurture this ‘battleground’ of divide and violence, the governments are gaining more and more control ….

[Maru]

Originally Posted by Ammi

…a section taken from an article that I was reading yesterday ….

The shooting comes as a series of incidents over the past year show an increased level of violence related to political disagreements or intended to achieve political goals.

Spoiler:

Trump faced two assassination attempts in 2024. Last December, a shooter targeted and killed the head of United Healthcare. Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro’s home was burned in an arson attack in April. Judges and elected officials report increased threats and harassment. Several instances of violence have stemmed from opposition to the Gaza war. In June, a man dressed as a police officer shot and killed a Democratic Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband, and wounded another state lawmaker and his wife. A gunman attacked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in August, killing a police officer.

Surveys have shown increased acceptance of using violence for political aims across party spectrums. Robert Pape, who directs the Chicago Project on Security and Threats, wrote in the New York Times that a survey his team conducted in May was its “most worrisome yet”. “About 40 percent of Democrats supported the use of force to remove Mr. Trump from the presidency, and about 25 percent of Republicans supported the use of the military to stop protests against Mr. Trump’s agenda. These numbers more than doubled since last fall, when we asked similar questions,” he wrote.

…it’s what we have been saying and fearing for so long, though and has become now what we’re seeing…how the world has become divided and for all and any, is becoming so dangerous…and while all media’s encourage and nurture this ‘battleground’ of divide and violence, the governments are gaining more and more control ….

Funny. I just posted an article that also listed a lot of these.

And these are just national stories. There's been local incidents like attacks or threats against judges, etc. That's one reason I started the Local News thread because a lot of things are happening, but they just don't get the same traction media-wise.

For whatever reason, the Minnesota one really stuck with me. I remember watching a clip of her addressing a vote she had just made. She was utterly terrified having to face her constituents. Then she was killed shortly after that...

[Ammi]

…this doesn’t have the feel of a ‘random shooter’…the shot in itself was aimed in its deadliness …and that person must have positioned themselves so precisely in their planning…plus with all of the security resources surrounding the event and being moments away in being summoned…?…that person had their flight path planned successfully from their shooting position…doesn’t this feel very ‘professional’….