Charlie Kirk was shot with a bolt-action rifle, which is a type of firearm commonly used for hunting and target shooting due to its reliability and accuracy. This rifle requires manual operation of the bolt handle to cycle between shots, allowing only one shot at a time before needing to reload. Law enforcement sources have described the recovered weapon as an older model, possibly a Mauser .3006 bolt-action rifle. This kind of rifle is favored by marksmen and hunters but is slower firing compared to semi-automatic rifles because it must be manually operated after each shot.
