BELLEVUE, WA – The U.S. edition of the Daily Mail, a British tabloid and online publication, has finally done what the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms has expected. The publication has dubbed the scoped hunting rifle used in the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk a “high-powered sniper rifle.”
“I’ve got to give the Daily Mail’s U.S. political reporter, Phillip Nieto, a little credit for revealing the depths of his anti-gun phobia,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “They weren’t even subtle about it. In true media fashion, the newspaper put the blame on the bolt-action rifle used in the slaying of Mr. Kirk. At least the reporter waited until the fourth paragraph.”
The paragraph to which Gottlieb refers reads, “Kirk was shot in the throat by a high-powered sniper rifle while speaking to college students at Utah Valley University on September 10. Tyler Robinson, 22, was charged with the murder and now faces the death penalty if found guilty.”
For years, Gottlieb recalled, leaders in the Second Amendment community have expected the gun prohibition lobby to eventually demonize common bolt-action hunting rifles, especially ones equipped with telescopic sights, as “sniper rifles.” The one allegedly used in Kirk’s murder was reportedly chambered for the popular .30-06 Springfield cartridge—used by big game hunters across the U.S. and Canada—and was designed around the equally-popular Mauser ’98 action. Millions of people own bolt-action hunting rifles.
“Contrary to how the Daily Mail reporter described the terrible assassination of Charlie Kirk,” Gottlieb observed, “the rifle didn’t pull its own trigger, so it didn’t kill anyone. Only the individual who misused that rifle is responsible, but that has never made any difference before to the anti-gun media.
“The media couldn’t blame Kirk’s murder on a so-called ‘assault rifle,’ so they’re doing the next worst thing,” he added. “They’ve slapped a defamatory label on commonly-owned hunting rifles, hoping to make them the new bogeyman for the gun ban lobby. The Daily Mail has pulled a page out of the gun control playbook simply for the purpose of sensationalism. It doesn’t pass the smell test.
“CCRKBA and American gun owners are wise to this sort of media manipulation,” Gottlieb concluded, “and we’re not going to let them get away with it.”