Today I had a well informed owner of a rifle blog tell me it was a Red Dot sight.
Red dot sights can be good or bad. Somewhat depending on what you pay for it.
Here is one of the men doing forensics from the audio of the shots recorded from Trump's microphone.
He says it was a red dot sight too.
Post-Congressional Assassination Attempt ANALYSIS with Chris Martenson! 2 Shooters? Viva Frei Live! (Jul 25, 2024)
A Red Dot sight is not extremely accurate but at 130 yards would have been sufficient. In close encounters it is extremely good. Target acquisition is quick and easy with the Red Dot as the target is far larger than the red dot of the sight.
He simply sighted it in wrong at the range or was so damn pumped with adrenaline and nerves he made a bad shot. That shot was an easy shot. I can do it consistently with open sights at that range.
I would not need a scope nor red dot.
With my scoped rifles I would make a 1 inch shoot at that range. My targets are paper and no consequences. That shooter was not shooting at paper targets.. He must have had adrenaline pumping and nervous but with one exception. Was he a psychopath? If such he may have been perfectly calm.
We are most fortunate that the shooter was not an accomplished shooter nor hunter. A hunter would have known what to select as a weapon. We as a nation and Trump as a man got lucky!