Charlie Kirk’s Death, Trump’s Reaction, and What We Should Really Be Talking About

Charlie Kirk’s Death, Trump’s Reaction, and What We Should Really Be Talking About

When I heard yesterday that Charlie Kirk had been shot, I prayed he would be okay. I’m not a conservative and I don’t usually pay attention to right-wing media, so I honestly didn’t know much about him. But I heard he was a well-known right-wing activist, and the human thing to do was to hope he survived. Sadly, he didn’t. He passed away later that day at only 31 years old.

In spite of politics, what happened to Charlie Kirk was wrong and tragic. It doesn’t matter what his views were — no one deserves to be targeted this way. I am deeply sorry for his wife and family, and my thoughts and prayers go out to them in this time of grief. This has to be devastating for them.

What angers me now is Donald Trump’s reaction. He initially asked people to pray for Kirk, calling him “a great guy from top to bottom” (People). But soon afterward, he posted on Truth Social blaming the left: For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals. This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now. (Reuters).

No one even knows yet why the shooter did it. Maybe the gunman hated Kirk’s politics — but that doesn’t make every liberal or progressive guilty by association. When we hear about people dying in a tragic accident, or in a mass shooting at a store or restaurant, we don’t first ask what their politics were. We think about how devastating it is for their families. That’s how I feel about Charlie Kirk’s death. I don’t agree with his politics, but that’s not the point. I don’t wish anybody dead because of their politics. If I did, I’d be wishing a good part of my family dead, since many of them are conservative — and I love them. Democracy means living alongside people we disagree with. This country already has enough hate without adding more.

Heather Cox Richardson made this point in her recent post, reminding readers about the Minnesota lawmakers who were recently shot. Those victims were Democrats — and we didn’t see this same rush to frame it as “right-wing violence.” We’ve seen plenty of right-wing shooters carry out attacks over the years, but Trump never jumps to blame “the right” when that happens. This selective outrage is dangerous and only stokes anger instead of calming it.

I also find it bitterly ironic that Charlie Kirk — a defender of gun rights — was killed by a gun. This is why so many of us believe in sensible gun control. I don’t think people should lose their guns. My dad was an avid hunter. When I was growing up, he had a gun cabinet in Mom and Dad’s bedroom with eight or ten guns in it. It was always locked, and we knew to stay away from it. I never had any desire to play with guns, and I understood how dangerous they were. When Dad married my mom, I was twelve, and there were little kids in the house — two- and four-year-olds, plus my younger sister who was eight. Dad made sure those guns were kept safe, and that’s exactly how it should be.

I don’t have a problem with responsible people owning guns. What I have a problem with is how easy it is for dangerous people — people with mental health issues or violent intentions — to get weapons. It’s sad that so many of the loudest voices defending unlimited gun access end up victims of it. Charlie Kirk’s death is tragic, and it should make all of us stop and think about the cost of a culture where guns are everywhere and anyone can get one.

We need to take this seriously. If we truly value life — no matter someone’s politics — then we have to talk honestly about gun safety, about keeping weapons out of the hands of people who would use them for harm, and about rejecting political violence wherever it comes from. This country has enough hate. Let’s choose a better path forward.