Florida Reporter Suspended After Texting MAGA Congressman to Ask If He Still Supports Campus Carry After Kirk Shooting

Meredith Seaver/College Station Eagle via AP

A reporter with a popular Florida political website was suspended after angering a Republican congressman with a question he texted in the wake of Charlie Kirk being shot.

The 31-year-old Turning Point USA founder was speaking at an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday when the shooting occurred. Video taken by students attending his speech shows Kirk appearing to have been shot in the neck after the sound of a single gunshot was heard.

Kirk was a popular figure in conservative media circles and a prominent supporter of President Donald Trump, encouraging the young voters in his organization to vote for Trump during his presidential campaigns and speaking at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last year.

News of the shooting shocked politicians and commentators on both sides of the aisle, who offered prayers for his family and condemnations of political violence. Kirk was rushed to a local hospital but died from his injuries.

Wednesday afternoon, after news of the shooting had spread but before it was known that Kirk had died, A.G. Gancarski, a reporter with the Florida Politics website, texted Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL), a Republican elected to Congress earlier this year in a special election.

Fine has been criticized for his own inflammatory rhetoric over the years, specifically in the wake of the shootings of two Democratic legislators in Minnesota and their spouses. Earlier this year while he was still in the state senate, Fine sponsored a bill to allow concealed carry on college campuses in Florida. The bill, SB 814, failed in committee in a 4-3 vote and was never sent to the Senate floor for debate or a vote.

According to a screenshot posted by Fine, Gancarski asked him “if Charlie Kirk getting shot affects your position on campus carry?”

“If gun control had been in play could the tragedy have been avoided?” Gancarski added.

“I learned that Charlie Kirk was shot 23 minutes ago. I am repulsed that you would even think to ask a political question when all anyone should be doing is praying for his survival,” Fine wrote back. “Never contact me again.”

Fine shared a screenshot of the texts on social media along with a caption that read, “You don’t hate the media enough.”

Less than an hour later, Peter Schorsch, the founder and publisher of Florida Politics, posted that he had “immediately suspended [Gancarski] from his position with [Florida Politics].”

“I cannot be the person I am, a critic of extremism on both the left and right,” Schorsch added in a follow up tweet, “if those who work with me lack the basic empathy in horrific situations. Perhaps other outlets can go immediately to the political ramifications of a tragedy like the shooting of a cultural leader, but that is not what I am about.”

Schorsch then noted that he had “urged [Gancarski] to go dark on social media for the time being while we address this situation,” and invited anyone with comments or questions to email him. Gancarski’s account on X has been set to private and is no longer publicly viewable.

In response to a commenter saying he didn’t “support asking those in power the tough questions,” Schorsch wrote, “I do, but asking that kind of question while the victim is in critical care is not what I want to be about.” (At that point, Kirk’s passing had not yet been publicly confirmed.)

Another X user posted a screenshot of a tweet Gancarski had purportedly sent to Fine before deleting it and locking down his account. In the screenshot, Gancarski replied to Fine that it was a “valid question” because Fine “ran a bill that would have allowed ‘campus carry'” as a state senator, but had left the legislature by the time of the April 17 shooting at Florida State University.

“I stand by the question,” Gancarski wrote. “Tragedy is ultimately what tests policy positions.”

Screenshot via X.

Mediaite has not been able to independently confirm the authenticity of this screenshot, but it does accurately display Gancarski’s username on X and most recent profile photo. Mediaite reached out to Schorsch for comment, and he sent the following reply:

I suspended A.G. from his position because I believe (and he tells me he agrees with this assessment) that the TIMING of his question was unacceptable. There will be a time to ask about the policy ramifications of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, but twenty or so minutes after the shooting was not it.

I also believed A.G.’s question was a loaded one, if not a gotcha question. He could not have expected any other response, other than an angry one, from Rep. Fine. The question was not about holding a politician accountable, it was about jabbing a metaphorical finger in his chest.

This article has been updated with additional information to include a comment from Schorsch received after publication.