Charlie Kirk, a political activist and media personality, was best known for debating college students and posting said debates online. He was one of the most prominent members in the MAGA movement within the Republican Party and was a vocal supporter of Donald Trump during the 2020 and 2024 presidential elections.
On Sept. 10, Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at a public debate on the Utah Valley University campus. His death has garnered national attention from both sides of the political spectrum.
Kirk was best known as an extreme right-wing political commentator. In many of his debate events, he promoted conservative rhetoric, including his opposition to abortion, DEI programs, LGBTQ+ rights, and most notably, gun control. He faced controversy during his life, regarding his criticism of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and of the work and the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. He also was criticized for promoting misinformation regarding the COVID-19 epidemic and the 2020 presidential election.
In the weeks after Kirk’s assassination, people from both sides of the political spectrum have been drumming up discussion. The consensus is that his death was unjustified. Even those people on the left, who otherwise fully opposed Kirk and his beliefs, have stated that celebrating his death is immoral. Meanwhile, people on the right have been mourning Kirk’s death, with several events being held and several works of art being created in his honor. However, as many people on the left have pointed out, Kirk’s death is a direct symptom of what he believed.
Kirk was a staunch advocate against gun control. Like many in the Republican party, he believed that looser gun control and more people owning guns would result in a safer country. His idea was that tighter gun control laws would actually weaken the potential victims of gun violence. In other words, the bad guys will always have guns, so the good guys should also have guns. This is in opposition to the opinion of many in the Democratic party, which believe that guns do not protect people; rather, they only harm people.
Kirk supported ideas such as open carry policies and looser gun control, even stating “I think it’s worth it 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. That is a prudent deal. It is rational.” In Kirk’s own words, his own death was worth the cost of protecting his beliefs.
This is the biggest argument that many people take away regarding Kirk’s death, that Kirk would have been indifferent to anyone else dying the way he did. Utah is an open carry state, and Utah Valley University is an open carry campus. Kirk died because of the beliefs and policies he promoted. Kirk was shot in the neck, in a way that no bullet proof vest, no one jumping in front of the bullet, and no “good guy with a gun” could have saved him.
