A pro-gun ownership LGBT organization in Utah in 2023 held a lecture for students interested in the “termination of oppressive systems” at the University of Utah, located about 45 miles away from the Utah Valley University campus where Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated on Wednesday.
The FBI has yet to identify their suspected killer, but on Thursday confirmed law enforcement recovered a high powered rifle, which information apparently leaked from a government source indicated was, “an older model imported Mauser .30-06 caliber bolt action rifle.”
According to the same leaked materials, the ammunition cartridges found with the weapon were, “engraved with transgender and antifascist ideology,” prior to being abandoned in a wooded area. An anonymous federal official has reportedly disputed this claim.
While the killer and their motives remain unknown, his death comes less than two years after Armed Queers of Salt Lake City lectured University of Utah students on “queer resistance” in 2023, then the Young America Foundation (YAF) reported it was invited to appear by the university’s LGBT Resource Center, and “Mecha,” a campus socialist club that sought the “termination of oppressive systems,” including the “cis-heteropatriarchy” and “land ownership.”
One member of Mecha in 2023 told the university newspaper, Daily Utah Chronicle, “I got involved in Mecha because I was tired of not seeing any leftist organizing or anti-fascist organizing on campus.”
YAF noted in 2023 that the flyer used to promote the event included an image of a woman holding a rifle with her finger on the trigger, violating one of the fundamental tenets of firearm safety.
While the Armed Queers of Salt Lake City said their goals in the 2023 lecture at the university were to “agitate,” “educate,” and “organize,” the group told Voyage Utah in 2024 that they sought to advance the struggles against racism, transphobia, and capitalism, means much more to us than any risk,” even if that meant “that we to some extent may be putting our own lives at risk.”
Explaining the organization “emerged in the summer of 2020,” it told the outlet it has since published materials on topics including, “Utah’s supplying of genocide in Palestine, Utah pride’s corporate sellout, and radical queer history and our place in it.”
Armed Queers of Salt Lake City did not respond to an attempted press inquiry from The Tennessee Star that sought to obtain a statement about Kirk’s death, and to ascertain whether the group was familiar with any individuals who match the images of the latest person of interest released by the FBI.
We are asking for the public's help identifying this person of interest in connection with the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University.
1-800-CALL-FBI
Digital media tips: https://t.co/K7maX81TjJ pic.twitter.com/ALuVkTXuDc— FBI Salt Lake City (@FBISaltLakeCity) September 11, 2025
We’re releasing additional photos of the person of interest in connection with the murder of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University. Please send all tips available to: https://t.co/XXzYBH1GkE pic.twitter.com/DgLOlrU6Cx
— Utah Public Safety (@UtahDPS) September 12, 2025
The University of Utah campus is located about 44 miles from the Utah Valley University campus where Kirk was shot.
Left wing gun clubs reportedly began to proliferate after President Donald Trump was first elected to the White House in 2016. A former member of one such group, the John Brown Gun Club, was killed after trying to set fire to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) using in 2019.
The Star obtained secretly recorded video and audio showing members of two Tennessee groups, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and Queers United in Liberating Tennessee (Quilt), engaged in similar discussion in 2023, when the activists discussed offering medical and self defense training to members.
One of the organizers behind the meeting explained they were actively seeking those with experience in, “more advanced like tactical medicine stuff,” while the group already offered “self-defense training,” which that said would “not just be combat oriented, but will be practical safety skills” as well.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Armed Queers of Salt Lake City” by Armed Queers of Salt Lake City.
Sounds like these queer groups want to start something. Well, they already have. From my news digs yesterday and this morning it appears that Conservative America has felt the seismic shift in the political landscape, and the gloves are coming off. The left just bit off more than their disguising mouths can chew.
What seems to have put most everyone over the top is the amount of pleasure being expressed on line by the useful idiots. The comments and behaviors are so inexcusable, that they are literally inexcusable. I’d start peeling the bumper stickers off of your Subaru’s and dye you hair back to it’s natural color.