The Left never passes up a tragedy. But there’s a wrench in the gears this time.
Because a key detail in Charlie Kirk’s assassination put Democrats on the back foot.
Democrats Exploit Kirk Assassination to Push Misguided Gun Control Agenda
The assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk on September 10, 2025, at Utah Valley University, where he was fatally shot by a .30-06 Mauser bolt-action rifle, has exposed the Democratic Party’s opportunistic push for expansive gun control, misrepresenting the nature of the weapon and ignoring the deeper issue of political violence. While authorities arrested 22-year-old Tyler Robinson for the killing, Democrats like Reps. Jahana Hayes and George Latimer swiftly called for new gun laws, falsely equating a century-old hunting rifle with so-called “assault weapons” to advance their anti-Second Amendment agenda, disregarding Kirk’s legacy as a defender of constitutional rights.
Misleading Democratic Narrative on Gun Control
Kirk, 31, was shot during a “Prove Me Wrong” event, struck in the neck from a rooftop 150 yards away by a Mauser Model 98, a bolt-action rifle recovered wrapped in a towel with a spent round and three unfired cartridges engraved with anti-fascist messages like “Hey fascist, catch!”.
Unlike the semi-automatic AR-15s often targeted by Democrats, bolt-action rifles, used in only five of 263 deadliest U.S. shootings per The Smoking Gun, require manual reloading, making them a staple for hunters, not mass shooters.
Aidan Johnston of Gun Owners of America told the Washington Times, “As usual, the Democrats wasted no time before weaponizing the assassination of Second Amendment advocate Charlie Kirk to promote their unconstitutional gun-grabbing agenda,” noting that bans on “assault weapons” would now extend to “grandpa’s old hunting rifle”.
Democrats like Rep. Hayes, who shouted “Pass some gun laws!” during a House moment of silence for Kirk, and Rep. Latimer, who asked, “Does it take shooting a conservative to start to realize the gun scourge?” exploit the tragedy to push policies irrelevant to the weapon used. Their focus on semi-automatic rifles and high-capacity magazines ignores the fact that the .30-06 Mauser, a military surplus rifle from 1898, is a common hunting tool, not an “assault weapon.”
This mischaracterization fuels a narrative that all firearms are threats, a stance Second Amendment Foundation founder Alan Gottlieb rebuked, stating, “Democrats treat all guns like they are ‘assault weapons’ and want to ban them. Guns don’t have brains to hate with or fingers to pull their own triggers.”
Kirk’s Death and Democratic Hypocrisy
Kirk’s assassination, marked by politically charged engravings on the ammunition, reflects a broader wave of violence against conservatives, including two 2024 assassination attempts on President Trump. Democrats’ quick pivot to gun control sidesteps the shooter’s apparent ideological motives, as evidenced by Robinson’s confession to a family friend and the anti-fascist inscriptions. Instead of addressing this radicalization, Democrats weaponize Kirk’s death, with some online commentators callously suggesting it was “justice” due to his pro-Second Amendment stance, exemplified by his viral quote: “It’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment.”
This rhetoric echoes the Democratic Party’s broader failure to confront their role in escalating tensions, as seen in their defense of comparing Trump to Hitler, which Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) criticized as dangerous after Kirk’s death.
The party’s focus on gun control, rather than the ideological hatred behind the attack, reveals a selective outrage that ignores violence against conservatives while pushing policies that would disarm law-abiding citizens. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, announcing Robinson’s arrest, called the shooting a “political assassination,” yet Democrats continue to frame it as a gun issue, not a symptom of their divisive rhetoric.
Defending the Second Amendment
Kirk, a staunch Second Amendment advocate, used his platform to argue that gun rights protect other constitutional freedoms, a view vindicated by the targeted nature of his killing. The Mauser rifle’s use has been described by firearms expert Scott Sweetow as requiring only “minimal training” for a 150-yard shot.
Democrats’ calls for background checks or bans on semi-automatic weapons are irrelevant to a bolt-action rifle legally owned by millions for hunting. Their push risks eroding the rights of Americans, as Johnston warned, by targeting even traditional firearms under the guise of public safety.
