A lot of people look at the shot the Trump shooter took and have opinions on it.
Some are informed opinions, of course. Some people actually know a thing or two about shooting, particularly at ranges over 100 yards like this one. Others will have opinions that are worth less than used toilet paper because they don’t know what they’re talking about.
So…pretty much like everything else involving firearms, if we’re being honest.
But there’s one thing we know about the shot here and now. It seems the shooter practiced.
Thomas Matthew Crooks tested his shooting prowess at a western Pennsylvania gun range just weeks before last Saturday’s attempted assassination of former President Trump, according to a report.
Bill Jenkins said he practiced his firearms skills immediately next to Crooks at the Keystone Shooting Center in Cranberry on June 22 – mere weeks before the July 13 attack, The Sun reported.
“I was sitting next to evil,” Jenkins told the outlet. “I haven’t been able to sleep thinking about it.”
Jenkins, who said he has been interviewed by the FBI, recalled the class instructor extolling Trump during the session – a glorification that may have contributed to Crooks’ determination to carry out the plot.
“It turns out the instructor and I are Trump supporters,” he said. “We talked about how our country was good under Trump. Our borders were secure, the economy was strong, we were energy independent, and he got things done. I noticed at the time that the kid wasn’t saying anything one way or another, but I could see him smirking.”
In hindsight, Jenkins believes Crooks was muting his animus toward Trump – and that the conversation may well have helped to motivate his assault.
“It’s crossed my mind – did that conversation help push him over the edge?” he said. “It freaks me out a little because a person has died.”
Frankly, I don’t think Jenkins had anything to do with what happened. If rhetoric was going to trigger this wanker, there was plenty of it flying around well before he took that class.
In fact, while we can’t say definitively, my bet is that he was in that class to learn and hone skills he intended to use in his assassination attempt.
Moreover, it seems Jenkins noticed that Crooks had some skill with a firearm during the course of that class.
Undoubtedly, someone will try to make this about our gun culture, that had he not been able to learn how to shoot better, then maybe the attempt wouldn’t have happened or whatever, but trying to convince people that firearm training is a bad thing is always going to be problematic. Especially since we have an entire generation that was born and raised during a time of war. There are more than enough people who already have skills anyway.
Besides, look at the reason for the Second Amendment for a moment. If we’re to oppose tyranny, we need to know how to do it, so I’d find any attempt at restricting such a thing to be a violation of the spirit of the Second Amendment, if not the letter.
But this twerp? He took a shot, almost hit Trump, and may have shaken up this country in ways no one could have predicted.
He may have practiced, but that wasn’t ever going to change what happened. If it hadn’t been a class, it would have been some field somewhere. Evil rests in the hearts of men, not in the tools they use or where they practice their use.
Find the original article in its entirety on Bearing Arms.
READ NEXT: Disgraced Senator To Resign
