FBI ‘Nail Gun Shooter’ Perfect Suspect for Administration Supporters to Exploit

U.S.A. – -(Ammoland.com)- “MAGA MANIAC SHOT DEAD IN OH,” a Friday Drudge Report link reads.

Of course, that’s not the title of the more restrained “What we know about the FBI Ohio office attack suspect,” Axios headline says. But Drudge, or whoever now controls his site, has been lurching steadily leftward since he first gained fame exposing Bill Clinton exposing himself to Monica Lewinsky.

In any case, those six words do their job to bolster the confirmation biases of millions of Democrat sympathizers reading it and the political and bureaucratic interests intent on exploiting it for all its worth.  The offender is a “Trumpster,” just like all Trumpsters—”militia violent extremists,” insurrectionists, and racists all. Meanwhile, the DOJ and FBI can point the finger back at anyone raising “baseless” questions about the Mar-a-Lago rai… uh, search, and accuse them of fomenting hatred and violence.

At least that’s the narrative all the major “news” providers are now parroting.

So a week later, what do “we know” about the dead suspect? Not a lot, really, only what “authorities” are saying and the media is repeating.

He was supposedly a Navy veteran, AP reports, may have “had ties to far-right extremist groups such as the Proud Boys,” and was “believed to have been in Washington in the days leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and may have been at the Capitol that day but was not charged with any crimes in connection with the riot.” “May have … was believed.”

Why the J6 “insurrectionists” did not come armed has still not been explained and remains as confounding as why a suspect armed with an AR-15 would bother shooting into an FBI field office with a nail gun.

But that’s not as important to those who would tar half their countrymen with the brush of traitor. There’s a more exploitable allegation that “Federal investigators are examining social media accounts they believe are tied to the gunman.” And the predominant one they’re associating with him is Donald Trump’s Truth Social, where he reportedly posted:

“Well, I thought I had a way through bullet proof glass, and I didn’t.  If you don’t hear from me, it is true I tried attacking the F.B.I., and it’ll mean either I was taken off the internet, the F.B.I. got me, or they sent the regular cops while.”

It would help if the account were still up so we could see for ourselves what else its purported holder has revealed about himself. Per The Washington Post, the “FBI attacker was [a] prolific contributor” who was “not just voicing anger but also calling for direct action to bring on armed conflict.” You must read the fine print to pick up the caveats that it was “an account with the suspect’s name.”

Perhaps the account was closed by government order. Perhaps it was taken down by Truth Social. In any case, removing it only works in favor of those who want to believe an account that may or may not be a fake and that may or may not have belonged to a low-hanging fruit loser who identified as a Trump follower and had 23 followers, serves as a template by which everyone who supports an America First agenda deserves to be judged. You know, “MAGA Maniacs.”

So basically, what we’re left with are these sources being the places most Americans will get their information and form their opinions from. That and NBC News Justice Reporter Ryan J. Reilly, quick to lay on the Twitter snark like “EXCLUSIVE from Breitbart: Weekends exist!” and ridiculing that they didn’t know what “SSA” stands for (Breitbart explained that they did not make a name assumption due to unclear handwriting on an inventory receipt.)

The adage about people in glass houses comes to mind, as does Reilly’s affinity for Alinsky Rule 5 ridicule, when one recalls that back when he was feeding at the Huffington Post trough, he asked if earplugs were rubber bullets.

In any case, the media is running full speed, laying blame for the “assault nail gun” shooter on anyone who questions the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s election (something like 40% of the country) or challenges any of the administration’s policies, whether they be on Covid, immigration, taxes, guns… They’re all “rightwing extremists” and all share in the guilt CNN is highlighting when it breathlessly declares, “Violent rhetoric circulates on the pro-Trump internet following FBI search, including against a judge,” further declaring:

Other posts were more explicit, “I’m just going to say it. [Attorney General Merrick] Garland needs to be assassinated. Simple as that.” Another user posted, “kill all feds.”

Those may be actionable. It’s certainly not inconceivable that an investigation would ID the meatheads in meatspace. It would help if we knew who they were, and also if maybe they aren’t who they’re representing themselves to be. But as long as that’s the game being played, we might want to see what some Trump critics are saying about all this over on Truth Social (enter “Ricky Shiffer” in the search box and select the “Truths” tab):

Ricky Shiffer is dead because of the rhetoric by @realDonaldTrump

Go FBI !!!!!!!!!! Ricky Shiffer a 1/6 domestic terrorist as now one less MAGA fan hahahahahahahahahga

Ricky Walter Shiffer. A 1/6 terrorist, now he’s a dead 1/6 terrorist. Which one ur keyboard f**sticks wants to cosplay ur civil war fantasies next?!?!

Yep. Dead right wing traitor terrorist

I could go on, but the point is made.

“It’s time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation,” Joe Biden said after being declared the winner in the last presidential election. “It’s time for America to unite. And to heal.”

Who in the gun owner advocacy community believes such unity is remotely possible with those whose mandate is “surrender and obey or else”?

About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.