By Aaron Ilia Merritt

On Jan. 7, 2015 a group of Muslim extremists affiliated with Al-Qaeda based in Yemen shot up Charlie Hebdo, a satirical news magazine in France.

The shooters were armed with AK-47s, Skorpion sub-machine guns, a grenade or rocket launcher, Tokarev TT-33 pistols, and a pump action shotgun. Most of the guns used were eastern military equipment that, over the years, Al-Qaeda and the Taliban have gotten ahold of either through support by eastern countries or finding them elsewhere. The shooters killed 12 Charlie Hebdo employees and injured 11. They later shot a French National Policeman. Two of  the shooters were shot and one was captured by the French government.

The aggressive action was triggered by a comic in the satirical magazine that had depicted Muhammad, the Muslim prophet. It showed Muhammad saying “100 lashes if you don’t die of laughter.” in French.

Stephane Charbonnier of Charlie Hebdo had this to say, “What I’m about to say is maybe a little pompous, but I’d rather die standing up than live on my knees.” Charbonnier was quoting Emiliano Zapata, leader of the Mexican revolution in 1910. Charbonnier was one who spoke of free speech. This was an attitude of “Give me liberty or give me death.”

Charlie Hebdo has been known to push boundaries. All is made fun of at Charlie Hebdo. Many were questioning the real motive of the terrorist attack because all of the prophets and religions are mocked by the magazine. According to NBC.com, the comic was offensive to many Muslims, but most of the Muslims in France believe that no one deserved to die over a silly satirical comic.