A former appointee of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is being sought in connection with the assassination of a state lawmaker and the shooting of another, police sources said,” The New York Post reported Saturday. “Vance Luther Boelter allegedly posed as a police officer when he shot Sen. John Hoffman and his wife in their Champlin home early Saturday, leaving them seriously injured before moving on to former Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman’s house — where he is believed to have slaughtered her and her husband…”
Based on an Instagram photo of Gabby Giffords paying tribute to “my friend [who] was a true public servant who dedicated her life building a better, safer Minnesota,” and that she and Hoffman were both leaders in the Democrat-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) that passed an anti-gun “omnibus bill [that] was opposed by every Republican and supported by every Democrat,” it may be fair to presume neither were versed in defensive gun use. In any case, the fact that their armed attacker presented himself as an officer of the law leads to a warning too few think about because they’re knee-jerk conditioned not to question authority:
“Members of the public are encouraged to call 911 if they are visited by someone in a police uniform to confirm their identity.”
I’ve been cautioning about that for years on my The War on Guns blog. In addition to an archive called “The Only Ones Files,” presented to amass a credible body of evidence to present when those who would deny our right to keep and bear arms use the argument that only government enforcers are professional and trained enough to do so safely and responsibly, there’s another growing curated collection of posts I call “The Fauxnly Ones Files.” The purpose of that is to alert readers not just to the reality that it happens more often than we might think, but also because, with all the incredibly abusive official behavior directed at gun owners for exercising their right, the day may come when we may need an “I did not believe they were real cops” defense to justify resistance, and it wouldn’t hurt to be able to document such fears are not unfounded.
Reactions from the political “left” are noteworthy and predictable.
Everytown, for instance, was unconvincing in its self-serving and sanctimonious attempt to establish a moral high ground by proclaiming, “Political violence has no place in a healthy democracy.” That’s exactly what the prohibitionists rely on when the state enforces the treasonous citizen disarmament edicts they engineer.
And reports with Gov. Tim Walsh conceding the attacks were “politically motivated” set off the usual barrage of finger-pointing and blame we’ve come to expect.
“We must defeat the violence and dehumanization which is central to Trump and MAGA,” a Democrat “political strategist” proclaimed. “The hatred being stoked by Trump and his fascist authoritarian regime against Democrats has consequences,” another apparatchik quick to lead the lynch mob chimed in.
Understand, at this point, Boelter has not been proven guilty. Nor are his political opinions known at this writing.
Challenging the knee-jerk “certainty” of the Trump MAGA haters is an inconvenient find:
Authorities said “No Kings” flyers were found in the vehicle.
I went. Did you?
Was Boelter supportive of the rallies? There sure were a lot of Democrat names on the presumed “hit list.” Did he have the flyers for another reason? At this point, evidence is scant.
I typed “Is Vance Luther Boelter a Democrat or a Republican?” into Google and AI mode came back inconclusive. That said, another query I asked X.com’s Grok showed the program had changed its mind on him being the suspect, where it first had called reports “unverified and likely false.”
We, and by that, I mean the people vilified by the “No Kings” mob (and make no mistake, calling Trump a “fascist” means they think the same of those who voted for him), we wo believe in Founding principles have one best defense against the outraged wailings of the collectivists, and that’s the truth. As this is being written, much of this story is still unfolding. Just keep one thing in mind if it turns out the killer really did hate Democrats (or had some other motive not yet known):
No Constitutionalist, that is, no believer in due process, would set himself up as judge, jury, and executioner. No matter how much those with mob mentality may want to scream it’s our fault for believing what we believe, it’s simply and demonstrably not.
That Boelter is white and a man could play right into another weaponized meme of the left, that “far right white supremacy” is the greatest and most violent threat to “democracy,” despite the fact that nobody can seem to convince an NRA Life Member (one would assume the most extreme of the extreme) to stop being “law-abiding” and prove them right.
That’s the difference between collectivists, who blame whomever they feel it’s politically advantageous to demonize and condemn, and individualists, who, after proving beyond a reasonable doubt, contend that the perpetrator is the one who should be held accountable.
UPDATE
Suspected Minnesota lawmaker assassin Vance Boelter captured [More]
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.
