The spent casing for the bullet that killed Charlie Kirk, which authorities found at the crime scene, had an inscription on it that read: “Notices bulge OwO what's this?” The meaning behind it can be traced back to “furry” meme culture, and it hints that, in some way, there could be a connection to the bizarre and opaque cosplay world.
Furry culture is a subculture that centers on costumed role play, where participants give human traits to the animals they portray. They wear partial or full animal costumes and cosplay with like-minded individuals.
I’ve seen them by the thousands over the years in my hometown, where they like to hold conventions. The general public and the local news media tend to take “furries” on face value, and while largely seen as odd, they are also seen as harmless. This can be a mistake, as the Charlie Kirk assassination investigation could ultimately prove.
So what does that inscription on the bullet casing mean?
The “OwO” on the casing is a text emoticon. It represents a surprised face with eyes wide open. This is said to be a very common meme used in the furry and anime worlds.
The initial part of the inscription is “Notices bulge.” This is internet slang for role-plays. It implies noticing another person’s sexual anatomy. It’s commonly used as an innuendo in role-plays.
The third part of the inscription is “what’s this?” This represents a sense of joking surprise in a role-play, something like, “What do we have here?”
Altogether, the inscription on the spent bullet casing appears to be a meme that’s sexually trolling as part of the act of murdering Charlie Kirk.
Sick does not begin to describe this. I had my own brush with anonymous furries a few years ago when I interviewed for my podcast an activist who fights against human trafficking and child porn. She explained how minors are sometimes lured, other times forced into the creation of porn videos. My guest had been making significant gains in countering the evil forces behind all of this, and that’s what we talked about. The subject of furries never came up.
Once the episode went live, I started getting strange and cryptic messages on social media. Almost all of the senders used a “furry” anime as their avatar, and they went by fictional names that reinforced their “furry identities.”
Some of the messages were directives. Things like, “Take down that episode,” and nothing else. The tone wasn’t overtly threatening, but it wasn’t nice.
A common theme was that the anonymous senders wanted me to understand that children in porn videos aren’t really victims. Instead, they are “sex workers,” and it’s a lifestyle they chose.
In the podcast, we consulted with people who are experts in this sort of thing. After proper deliberation, we kept the episode up and decided to move forward, monitoring, tracking, keeping records, documenting everything.
This activity ceased when they realized we wouldn’t cave to their requests. The takeaway was that some furries are not as harmless as they may appear.
The history of the furries goes back to the 1980s sci-fi and comic book conventions in California. Are you surprised?
It was called “Furry Fandom” then. An underground comic called "Albedo Anthropomorphics," created by Steve Gallacci, was a factor. It featured adult-themed plotlines and animal characters, which served to differentiate furry fans from other sorts of comic book and sci-fi fans.
This led to groups hosting furry parties at conventions and spawning furry culture. Since then, furries have held conventions and meet-ups across the country. The internet and social media helped to further accelerate the growth of this subculture.
Given the nature of furry culture, the characteristic anonymity of its members, and their often bizarre behaviors in real life and online, it seems that this can be a haven for some sick and twisted individuals. The kind of people who would do “sex work,” traffic minors, and engage in deviant and perhaps illicit activity. And as we learn more about the assassination, maybe even murder people with their favorite memes inscribed on their bullets.
