Politics: sins of the Left
By Richard North - September 12, 2025
Know him or not, the murder of Charlie Kirk seems to be having reverberations throughout the world and, with the killer yet to be captured, the usual crop of conspiracy theories – invariably attendant on such events – are in circulation.
An unexpected source (although perhaps not that unexpected) of such conspiracy tales is the Telegraph which was carrying a story all day yesterday online, headed: “A single lethal gunshot from 130 metres. This was ‘no amateur’ who ‘got lucky’”, with the sub-head telling us: “Experts believe the footage shows a carefully planned shooting of the conservative influencer”.
Even before delving into the depths of this story, however, one can confidently assert that, as headlined, it is nonsense. The lowest grade of shooting proficiency in the US Army requires that soldiers be able to hit a man-sized target at 300 metres, on which basis – in purely technical terms – a target at 130 metres is a relatively easy shot.
Certainly, from my own personal experience as a 16-year-old CCF cadet, I was able to qualify at 100 yards with a bolt-action, .303 calibre Lee Enfield No. 4 rifle, over iron sights. Given that the shooter’s rifle seems to have been found and is shown (pictured) with a telescopic sight, hitting a target at that range is well within the capability of even a moderate shot.
From the published picture, I would hazard a guess that the weapon is a Kimber 84M Montana, a .308 calibre bolt-action lightweight rifle (although it can be chambered for the .270 Winchester Short Magnum cartridge, for higher velocity and greater hitting power)- although CNN is saying that it could be the very similar-looking Mauser M18.
The Kimber rifle has had mixed reviews, regarded as “challenging to shoot well” from field shooting positions, with indifferent accuracy, and a bolt lift that jostles the target out of the sight picture, making it difficult quickly to fire a follow-up shot. It is also rated as generating a strong recoil, which makes it more difficult to hold on-target after firing.
It has been well established that Kirk was killed by a single shot to the neck, and it has been suggested that the shooter was going for a head-shot but failed to account for the bullet drop over distance (or had not zeroed his sight properly). This might also point towards an “amateur” status, while the rifle characteristics (whether Mauser or Kimber) might explain why the shooter only took one shot, when a more experience rifleman might have fired off two, in order to be sure of the kill.
It is now being reported on social media (which, as so often, is ahead of the game) that the FBI have identified a “person of interest” and have a number of photographs of the suspect, both from the scene and from his social media post.
From this, it emerges that the shooter is most likely a student at the Utah University that Charlie Kirk was visiting, while the social media posts appear to have statements expressing a wish for “someone to hurt Charlie”, while another post, the day before the shooting, stated: “Let’s just say something big will happen tomorrow”.
It is also being reported that, along with the rifle, investigators recovered three unused rounds, the ammunition engraved with “transgender and anti-fascist ideology”, according to an internal law enforcement update. The “trans” link would seem to be supported by the social media posts showing the suspect dressed as a female.
Commentators are already noting that a “trans” shooter recently murdered two children and injured many more in a mass shooting in a Minneapolis school, scrawling “Jew gas” and “for the children” on the weapons he used for the attack. Frantic notes written on the weapon’s magazines read “kill Donald Trump” and “where is your God?”.
The accumulating evidence, therefore, seems to contradict the Telegraph’s lurid headline, and even the choice of the firing point – cited as evidence of the attack being “well-prepared and well-planned” – could easily be picked from Google satellite maps, while the building – part of the university estate – might well be known to students.
What does materialise from the shooting though – not least from Charlie Kirk as the target – is that the motivation is quite obviously left-tinged, with the “trans” link also being associated with the package of issues embraced by the Left. Kirk’s right wing group, Turning Point USA, which engaged in controversial topics, in particular railing against “trans rights”, making Kirk a strong hate figure in Lefty politics.
As such, the shooting has been applauded by a wide range of figures on the Left, in America and elsewhere, including the UK, where his death has provoked expressions of glee and jubilation. One of those, reported both by The Times and the Telegraph, is president-elect of the Oxford Union, George Abaraonye, a third-year philosophy, politics and economics (PPE) undergraduate. He told his fellow students on a WhatsApp chat : “Charlie Kirk got shot, let’s f***ing go”, apparently a celebratory phrase used by people of his ilk.
Another message, believed to be on his Instagram account, stated “Charlie Kirk got shot loool”, an exaggeration of the abbreviation “laughing out loud”. Messages were shared in a WhatsApp group for Oxford Union members. At least one of his messages, we are told, was soon deleted.
That Abaraonye, a Nigerian from the Igbo tribe, has been chosen by fellow students to head the prestigious Oxford Union perhaps indicates how far our great universities have sunk, not least for his appearance in a debate with Kirk in May at the Union, when Abaraonye was dressed in a T-shirt and tracksuit bottoms.
The Oxford Union reacted later, saying it “unequivocally condemned” Abaraonye’s words, its statement declaring: “We reaffirm our stance that the Oxford Union firmly opposes all forms of political violence and strongly stands by our commitment to free speech and considerate debate”. It added: “We would like to reiterate that our condolences lie with Charlie Kirk’s family, especially his wife and young children, who are enduring such terrible grief”.
This comes as too little and too late – the damage is done and cannot be undone, and Abaraonye remains, for the moment, president-elect of the Union, a testament to its shrivelled status.
Even the Guardian – no stranger to the dissemination of Lefty propaganda – seems worried by developments.
In today’s editorial, in which it describes Kirk’s killing as “a perilous moment that may lead to more”, it cites Lilliana Mason, a leading scholar of partisanship, who observed recently, “Democracy is the way that we have diverse societies that don’t kill each other, largely”, adding: “As soon as we stop believing in it, it disappears”.
Mason’s research suggests that there is sharply rising tolerance of political violence and Kirk is now cited as “one more victim”, although it wouldn’t be the Guardian if it didn’t then indulge in victim blaming, describing Kirk as “a hugely influential activist who rallied young people to Donald Trump’s cause and far-right ideology more broadly”.
He has, says the paper, been widely and rightly condemned across the political spectrum and “leading Democrats and progressive activists” have made clear that the “violence” of his killing “must not be tolerated”.
Without having to plough through the whole of the turgid script, readers quickly learn that this is all down to Donald Trump, because he is blaming “radical left political violence”, claiming that liberal rhetoric against conservatives was “directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country”. This, it appears, is the action which is “fuelling anger and attacks, to everyone’s cost”.
Not a hint of criticism can be seen of those who are rejoicing in the killing, nor indeed that this actual killing of a popular right winger might have something to do with “fuelling anger and attacks”. But then, if you are on the Left, everything is down to right wing “hate”, radicalising ordinary Americans who then rush out to target women and “people of colour”.
At least, though, this killing isn’t a right wing conspiracy, and coverage would probably quickly disappear if it wasn’t for president Trump. But it will be a long time before the Left owns up to its sins.
