Charlie Kirk assassin’s alleged gun was powerful, vintage and hard to trace


In the frantic hours after the murder of Charlie Kirk, the researchers discovered a weapon In a wooded area near the scene in northern Utah. The federal agents that sought to track the weapon faced a discouraging task.

According to the investigation, it was a rifle manufactured in Germans of decades for use by the military in both world wars, according to multiple sources of application of the law familiar with the investigation. So old that could have been brought to the United States before the laws were promulgated in the 1960s Require that weapons are fixed with serial numbers or other brands to allow tracking.

It is believed that there are millions of such weapons throughout the United States.

Fortunately for investigators, the alleged shooter was identified through other media, his family, who convinced him to be delivered to the police. But the alleged use of such a vintage weapon has generated fears among some former federal agents of the potential so that other possible murderers seek these powerful, precise and difficult to do. Firearms

“Apart from the security provided to the president, there is no way to defend against the threat that this represents,” said Scott Sweow, a retired official from the alcohol, tobacco office, firearms and explosives.

The suspect, Tyler Robinson, surrendered to the authorities one day after Kirk was killed in an event on the University of Utah Valley’s university. According to the alleged text messages shared by prosecutors when accusing documents, Robinson told his fourth and romantic partner, who is transgender, who killed Kirk because “he had enough hatred.”

Robinson, 22, accused of aggravated murder and six other positions, had recently become “more gays and oriented to trans rights,” according to prosecutors.

A commemorative public service for Kirk, the greatly popular founder but also polarizing from the conservative Turning Point USA group, will take place on Sunday in Arizona.

A popular bolt daction rifle

Prosecutors identified the recovered weapon as a Maucer 98 model. The .30-06 caliber rifle, which shoots cartridges a little smaller than 8 millimeters, had belonged to Robinson’s grandfather, prosecutors said.

Mauser 98 rifle.Mauser

The authorities have not revealed how they believe that Robinson’s grandfather obtained the gun or if they could track successfully. An ATF spokesman declined to comment to NBC News.

The gun is a bolt approach rifle, which requires users to recharge between shots. A person must pull the bolt back and then move him forward to move a new round to his place and shoot again.

After the wars in Europe, countless SUBs Americans returned home with German -made mausers. In the later years, the Mauser rifles and other similar versions could simply be obtained by ordering them by mail.

For decades, hunters have favored them for their durability, reliability and precision. With .30-06 rounds, they are ideal weapons to eliminate medium to large games such as deer, classes and even bear.

But it is extremely rare that they are used in crimes, according to former ATF weapons agents and federal reports. The majority of armed violence in the United States is carried out with guns, and AR-15 semi-automatic rifles have been used to commit some of the most mortal massive shootings in the nation.

“A bolt rifle? You don’t see those weapons used in violent crimes,” said Tim Sloan, a former ATF agent who retired as head of his branch of Mexico.

This is because they cannot be hidden as easily as guns and are not designed to spray a large volume of bullets at the same time, experts say.

Mauser 98 rifle with a bullet in the camera
A 98 Mauser is a bolt rifle, which requires users to recharge between shots.WIRESTOCK, Inc. / Alamy

But somehow, they are ideal for use in sniper -style murders. Because they are so ubiquitous and loved by hunters and recreational shooters, a person who wears a rifle like this in a place like Utah would not arouse any suspicion.

And they are so well done that, with a decent reach, a person with basic competence in firearms can reach an objective of 150 to 200 yards away, approximately the distance of the shot fired by the Kirk murderer.

“You must not have gone to the Special Marshift or have been any kind of champions shooter,” said Brian Greco, a New York Police officer who served in the terrorism and veteran unit of Marines’s body.

Despite his age, Mauser’s vintage rifles such as the authorities say they were used to kill Kirk are widely available in firearms, pawn stores and arms shows, experts said. They can also be modified to accommodate different rounds, areas and lighter stocks made of fiberglass.

“Jane’s basic mausers: you can go to any weapons show in the United States and see these things for a few hundred dollars,” Sweoww said, the ATF retired official. “Very personalized versions can be for thousands.”

Kennedy murder echoes

The use of a rifle of European military surpluses of decades to kill Kirk echoes one of the most infamous crimes in the United States: the murder of John F. Kennedy in 1963.

The murderer, Lee Harvey Oswald, used a Carcano Model 38, a bolt action rifle originally designed at the end of the nineteenth century for the Italian army. He obtained it by mail through an ad in a weapons magazine.

The murder helped mark the beginning of the 1968 weapons control law, which among other things required that firearms were sold by federal license distributors, to have marks to allow tracking and to complete the paperwork identifying the buyer.

The defenders of arms control have been pressing for a long time to obtain more restrictions, such as a prohibition of military semi-automatic firearms such as AR-15. But they recognize that such prohibition would not cover a bolt approach rifle such as Mauser 98.

“It is a hunting rifle, and the people hunt legitimately,” said Greg Lickenbrock, author of the book “Property of Safe Weapons for Dummies” and a senior analyst of firearms for Everything for the safety of weapons, a weapons control group founded by Mike Bloomberg.

He said that the use of this type of weapon in a violent crime highlights the gaps in the ability to apply the law to locate the owners.

“This is a very obvious example of the tracking system that has huge holes,” added Lickenbrock.

That opinion is even shared by some who believe strongly in the second amendment.

“I am definitely not a type of ‘more governmental’ person, but as someone who takes the security of firearms seriously and has worked with firearms for 30 years through the Marines body, the New York Police and now as an armed guard for a Long Island school district, I think it has to be the responsibility of these major firearms and not Juertas,” said Geco.

“A vintage firearm in the old grandfather’s trunk is great,” he added, “but unfortunately it also gives access to someone who otherwise could not have had access or that could have been denied access.”



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