U.S. NEWS Kirk assassin's alleged gun was powerful, vintage and hard to trace

[mahatmakanejeeves]

U.S. NEWS
Kirk assassin’s alleged gun was powerful, vintage and hard to trace

Former federal agents fear the potential for other would-be assassins to seek out widely available, decades-old firearms that require only basic proficiency to hit distant targets.


————— Members of an FBI forensics team investigate a wooded area on Sept. 11, 2025, near the crime scene where political activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at Utah Valley University in Orem.Melissa Majchrzak / AFP - Getty Images

Sep. 20, 2025, 5:00 AM EDT

By Rich Schapiro and Andrew Blankstein
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.

{snip}

[Lovie777]

1. What?....................

[gab13by13]

3. What? is exactly the correct response.

Way back when I hunted, the 30.06 was the popular gun to hunt deer and bear. I have no clue why the gun being old makes it shoot better.

[yardwork]

6. I don't know much about firearms.

But even I noticed that this is a very weird article. It reads like AI.

[Vogon_Glory]

2. That's what I suspected shortly after Kirk got shot

An older weapon, difficult if not impossible to trace, and suited for long-distance shooting. Lee Harvey Oswald used a similar weapon when he shot President Kennedy. And, unlike Matthew Crooks, who used a semi-automatic rifle back in July of last year, young Robinson used a weapon better-suited to long-distance shooting.

[Kaleva]

5. A modern, traceable hunting rifle is just as deadly

[Vogon_Glory]

7. I agree: just as deadly

Still, after Kirk’s shooting I’d wondered whether the assassin had chosen that particular rifle because he already knew that it wasn’t as traceable and that he had a few other personalities on his hit list.

As an aside, progressives and Democrats have been forced to live with the specter of political violence for decades now. I deplore that violence. Nobody, not even cray-cray right-wingers, should be in fear for their lives for speaking their minds. We good-guy progressives really should not shoot people.

One thing I suspect is that a lot of rightie influencers are realizing that the specter of violence that has plagued progressives for years might be menacing them, too. Charlie Kirk’s murder might have forced a few of them to realize that their magical King’s X has evaporated and that they may be in danger, too—not from the leftist bogey-men they feared, but from disgruntled folks from their own ranks.

They don’t seem to be handling that realization very well.

[Kaleva]

4. I asked DUers who are going to get guns for defense about this

“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“


https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna231334

I haven’t gotten an answer yet.

[gay texan]

8. A Nazi Mauser

That is telling

[Vogon_Glory]

10. Not necessarily

There were a lot of Wehrmacht rifles left here and there around Western and Central Europe to be picked up and kept as souvenirs during and occasionally after World War II. Not so many Mausers dating back to Kaiser Wilhelm and the Imperial German Army.

[OC375]

9. Meh

Figured someone would try to make hay out of bolt guns at some point. Guess this was an opportunity for them? I’ll admit, I never considered the “untraceable antiques” or the “they’re too well built” angles. Very clever, I guess. Seems like a BS article trying to drum up fear, though for what I can only guess…

Let’s nip this in the bud and pass a law making WWII vets and their families felons over antique CCR guns. That sounds like a winner.

[Kaleva]

11. Records aren't kept of private sales

Pay cash for a long gun from a private seller. A gun that may have gone thru the hands of several owners over the course of decades.