Libertarians Are at It Again

Right now, there are a couple of studies claiming that political violence from the right is much more prevalent than that from the left. The aim here seems to be to undermine the conservative response to Charlie Kirk’s assassination. In essence, left-wing political violence—along with the celebrations that come with it—are serious matters.

One study mentioned is from the Prevention and Abolition League. My friend Ryan Gardski did an insightful breakdown of it in his newsletter, National Populist. To sum it up, they lump white nationalist murders, domestic violence, and various ideologically driven murders into their “right-wing political violence” category. It’s worth a read.

Another study I’m interested in comes from Kato Wangk. Alex Nowrasteh, the vice president of economic and social policy at a libertarian think tank, collaborated with David Beer, Cato’s director of immigration research, on it.

(Just a note: Cato and Nowrasteh were involved in another controversial study that suggests illegal immigrants commit fewer crimes than native-born citizens.)

In a Substack post about political violence, Nowrasteh said that “politically motivated violence isn’t a big deal, and left-wing terrorists aren’t the worst.” Let’s take a closer look at the list Nowrasteh put together.

First off, a methodological note: Nowrasteh claims his study “focuses on politically motivated terrorists who actually killed someone in their attack.” For the sake of brevity—and to keep my own sanity—we’ll stick to cases from the past decade, specifically between 2015 and 2025. This cutoff isn’t strictly defined, so if you find more time, a more complete list could be constructed.

According to his criteria, 57 “politically motivated terrorist killers” were identified within this timeframe. Out of these, 13 are either Muslims, foreign nationalists, or fall into the unknown/other category. This leaves us with 27 right-wing terrorist killers and 17 left-wing terrorist killers, based on Nowrasteh’s count.

Now let’s take a closer look at those identified as right-wing killers to see how accurately they’ve been categorized. We’ll emphasize the appropriately classified murderers in bold and highlight those improperly classified in underline. For those I mark as “suspect,” italic indicates that their motivations aren’t clearly validated or are a bit ambiguous.

Right-Wing Terrorist Killers

1. Dylann Roof – Appropriately classified
2. John Russell “Rusty” Hauser – Though Hauser had some right-wing leanings, there’s no solid evidence linking his motivations to the Lafayette cinema shooting. CNN reported that he had severe mental health issues before the shooting, making his motives somewhat murky. Speculation suggests he may have targeted the film due to misogynistic views, but this has not been confirmed.
3. Dear Robert Lewis – Appropriately classified
4. James Harris Jackson – This one’s a little more complicated. Jackson, who killed a black man with a sword, has a long history of racial hatred, despite being raised in a liberal family. His political leanings were mixed; he expressed dislike for Sarah Palin but voted for Barack Obama in 2012. He began leaning towards far-right views before the murder, so I consider this a proper classification.
5. Jeremy Joseph Christian – Appropriately classified
6. James Alex Fields, Jr. – Appropriately classified
7. Matthew Edward Lille – This man, a former combat medic in Iraq, struggled with PTSD and psychosis. He had stopped taking medication prior to his rampage, which he live-streamed. He stated that he wasn’t going to hurt anyone except in self-defense.
8. Samuel Woodward – Raised Catholic, Woodward struggled with his sexuality and exhibited anti-gay sentiments. However, he acted violently towards a gay man he had met online. This seems to stem from internal conflict, but doesn’t clearly align with right-wing political violence.
9. Gregory A. Bush – While motivated by racial hatred, his killings of two black shoppers in a Kroger store lack clear political motivation. He disliked Obama, but largely for racial reasons rather than political ones.
10. Robert D. Bowers – Appropriately classified
11. Scott Paul Beierle – Appropriately classified
12. Anthony Comello – His defense at trial was quite extraordinary. He claimed he shouldn’t be held accountable for killing a mob boss because he was radicalized by QAnon ideas. But law enforcement suggested that his motivations were more personal, stemming from a relationship issue.
13. John T. Ernest – Appropriately classified
14. William Santino Legan – Appropriately classified
15. Patrick Crusius – Appropriately classified
16. Steven Carrillo – Appropriately classified
17. Robert Justus – Appropriately classified
18. Roy Den Hollander – Appropriately classified
19. Robert Aaron Long – He targeted Asian-owned “massage parlors,” expressing frustration over addiction and its conflict with his religious views.
20. Nathan Allen – He intentionally crashed a stolen truck into two black individuals after writing anti-black and pro-white statements. There isn’t clear evidence linking him to a white supremacist agenda, so it seems more aligned with a hate crime.
21. Payton S. Gendron – Appropriately classified
22. Benjamin Jeffrey Smith – Appropriately classified
23. Anderson Lee Aldrich – Appropriately classified
24. Mauricio Martinez Garcia – Appropriately classified
25. Ryan Christopher Palmeter – Appropriately classified
26. Solomon Sahmad Charlie Henderson – Appropriately classified
27. Vance Boelter – He was previously a Democrat before shifting to Republican views. His actions seemed politically motivated by a belief that he was facilitating political assassinations.

If we’re generous in our assessment, we could conclude that there are about 21 right-wing terrorist killers against 17 left-wing ones, or if you’re less generous, maybe 19:17. It’s a minor difference, really. However, it’s crucial to note that Nowrasteh did not include left-wing terrorist killers in his list.

1. The Waukesha Killer drove through a Christmas parade in 2021, has made multiple anti-white social media posts, supported Black Lives Matter, and has a history opposing Donald Trump.
2. Jessica Doughty Whitaker was shot and killed following a declaration of “All lives matter” by BLM protesters—her case remains unresolved.
3. Anti-Natalists bombed an IVF clinic in 2025, resulting in one death.

Without a doubt, this distinction between left and right categories needs fine-tuning.

Then there’s another flaw in Nowrasteh’s list—it’s solely about killings. This overlooks numerous assassination attempts including those on Trump, the 2017 Republican baseball shooting, and various other incidents involving politicians like Lee Zeldin and Brett Kavanaugh.

Nowrasteh’s compilation is certainly more robust than the ADL’s, but it still highlights the subjective nature of determining whether violence is politically motivated. These studies largely depend on methodology and reviewer bias. At the very least, claiming that right-wing violence markedly outnumbers left-wing violence feels highly debatable at best.