[U X2: He Was A 2016 Trumper!] Ketchup, Take 2?!: Hinderaker Pegs The Guy With An AK-47 And Scope As A “Right Winger”…

Updated: as with all such characters, he seems mentally ill… he said he was a Trumper, but became disillusioned in 2019.

Second Update, 09.16.24 Evening: Hinderaker all but admits that Tangerine’s own rhetoric… false at that — may have painted an “enduring” target on his own chest.

John further *almost* admits that this uncanny ability of hundreds of profoundly mentally ill Americans to get their hands on AK-47s (fully automatic, very accurate, rifles of war) — with sniper scopes attached, most with the serial numbers filed off… all but guarantees that someone, someday relatively soon… will be successful.

He almost concedes that “things have to change”. Of course, he doesn’t say what it would be that needs to change (precisely), whether it is a toning down of Trump‘s rhetoric, or sensible gun legislation, or both… but it seems to be “some progress” — that old Pop-Pop Hinderaker no longer wants to live in a world where people are reasonably likely to get assassinated, on the regular. End of second update.

So… now, let’s just leave it at this:

The main story should be how did he end up in a sniper’s nest with a scoped AK-47, ready to take a shot from ~400 yards out?

He shouldn’t have been allowed to own an automatic weapon — of any kind, based on his social media rants, from Hawaii. Moreover, barricading himself inside a store — and his use of firearms in a hostage like situation, in 2003 in North Carolina, along with 100 other priors now reported… should have prevented his EVER getting an assault rifle.

End first update.

I’ve seen nothing elsewhere about the leanings of the alleged shooter, but it was a fairly credible… threat at a minimum.

Of course violence is never the answer. He is in custody, so by tomorrow midday, we should know much more…

That said, it is fascinating that John’s people are telling him the terror threat came from “the right”.

Not sure how they’d know that — unless inside law enforcement is leaking his name in Florida.

But it is certainly true that the ease of getting a scope mounted assault rifle ought to be part of this story — at Tangerine’s club.

Right or left — assassination is never the answer.

Out.