I hated Charlie Kirk. I thought he was cocky, arrogant, and that his only talent was debating college kids who couldn’t articulate their opinions eloquently, or simply just didn’t intellectually compare. Nonetheless, Kirk built a strong force of young conservatives across college campuses and the wider American community. He made a name for himself when he founded Turning Point USA in 2012, a nonprofit dedicated to spreading conservative politics in America, and became one of the most prominent voices in conservative commentary.
When I heard that he had been shot, I felt sad. Not because I cared for him as an individual, but because it was yet another act of political gun violence. I wondered, maybe he’ll survive, hoping it would be an eye-opening experience, and he would come back from it as an advocate against gun violence. When his death was announced by President Trump, it confirmed what I’ve always known: Violence does not spare its proponents.
Kirk believed that gun deaths were inevitable in a society that hinges on the second amendment right. He claimed that arming schools with security guards, and children having present fathers in their homes, were realistic means to decreasing, but never fully stopping, gun violence. Kirk said:
“I think it’s worth it. I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.”
The claim that the deaths of children in classrooms, worshippers in synagogues and churches, are worth the sacrifice to keep guns is not only disingenuous, but unrealistic, and heartless. To reduce human lives to collateral damage for a constitutional principle is cowardice dressed as patriotism. It reveals a worldview where the right to live is valued less than the right to pull a trigger. The second amendment and gun control are not mutually exclusive. One can respect the right to bear arms while also demanding reasonable measures to keep guns out of the hands of those who seek to cause harm.
Many people have cheered for Kirk’s death, citing his anti-women, anti-immigration, and anti-abortion sentiments, all of which are genuine gripes I share. Charlie Kirk promoted the “Great replacement theory” conspiracy, which directly inspired the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in 2018 that murdered 11 Jews, claimed that abortion is worse than the Holocaust, and said the passing of the civil rights act was a “mistake.” Make no mistake, Charlie Kirk was a bigot.
My participation in the criticism ends when so-called activists choose death as a weapon. When we give the power of people to choose who lives or dies, no one is safe. No one has the authority to decide people’s fates. Not the man who killed Charlie Kirk, not the shooter in the church, not Luigi Mangione. When you find yourself cheering for violence against those you despise, ask yourself not if, but when, you’re next. Ask yourself what you would do if someone attacked people closest to you.
If it was you in the crosshairs, would you finally realize how fragile the justification of “they deserved it” really is? You should be wondering: What’s stopping conservative gunmen from opening fire on queer kids as long as they feel they’re deserving? What if someone who disagrees with me decides I’m worthy of the bullet? Will I fight, or submit, accepting that my fate is in someone else’s hands simply because they say so? Justice is not served by bullets, it is degraded and distorted by them.
Political violence is becoming a horrifically popular tool in America. In June of this year, two Minnesota lawmakers were attacked. Leader of the democratic caucus in the state house Melissa Hortman and her husband were fatally gunned down by a Trump supporter, while Senator John Hoffman and his wife were injured. When asked to respond, President Trump refused to even call Minnesota governor Tim Walz, claiming it was a “waste of time.” Yet in the aftermath of the killing of Kirk, Trump responded to his death by writing him a heartfelt message on Truth Social. This example from our president reflects how violence, and the empathy it demands, have become partisan issues. The irony runs even deeper knowing that Trump himself was a victim of an assasination attempt that left a firefighter dead, and the President with an injury to his ear.
We saw similar hypocrisy across the aisle when anti-Israel activists rejoiced for the violent killings of Jewish diplomats Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, while simultaneously feigning outrage for the people of Gaza. In April of 2025, Jewish governor of Pennsylvania Josh Shapiro became a victim of politically-motivated arson at his home.
As we all know too well, the bloodshed has never stopped at politicians. A mass shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis just this month took the lives of two children and injured 21 others, and an investigation into the shooter revealed he held beliefs that were vehemently anti-Israel. The same day Kirk died, three students were injured in a school shooting in Colorado, the media coverage scarce in comparison. Just a day after the shooting that killed Kirk, threats of violence sent multiple historically Black colleges and universities across the country into chaos and fear. Hampton University, Alabama State University, and Virginia State University were forced into lockdown, while at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, gunfire erupted and students were forced to evacuate. The Naval Academy in Annapolis also went into lockdown after receiving threats of violence. Political and gun violence ripples through communities and leaves students, educators, and everyday citizens in fear. With each new threat and attack, our insecurity grows, and proves that the escalation of political violence will affect us all.
As of September 10, 2025, there have been 47 school shootings in the United States since the beginning of January – and counting. These attacks have killed 19 people, wounded as many as 77, and traumatized witnesses to a degree we cannot quantify. Violence becoming the currency of politics means no one has a future that isn’t soaked in blood.
The harsh reality of living in America is the chance that you or anyone around you could be a victim of gun violence. The glamorization of violence to further political gain, or squash it, shatters our moral ground. To celebrate violence is to forfeit the right to mourn it. You lose your credibility when you pick up the same weapons used against you. If we allow ourselves to believe that the cycle of violence can be broken with more blood, democracy becomes a battlefield with no end in sight.
