TOI correspondent from Washington: Conservative youth activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated during a live debate on a college campus on Wednesday, the daylight murder marking a likely turning point in civil discourse in a deeply polarized America increasingly numb to gun violence.
Kirk, 31, who indeed founded an advocacy group for conservative politics called Turning Point USA , was engaged in a conversation with students at Utah Valley University when an unknown assailant lodged on a rooftop some 200 meters away pumped a single bullet into his neck. He slumped sideways, and as the audience around him scattered in horror, his security detail rushed him to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The assassin is still at large and his motive remains unknown.
Ironically, Kirk’s last words were on the divisive issue of gun violence. An audience member has just asked him “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?”, and he had responded: "Counting or not counting gang violence?” before the shot rang out.
A fierce defender of gun rights, Kirk had argued in a 2023 event that "it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment (the right to bear arms) to protect our other God-given rights.”
One of the most influential figures on the political right, Kirk’s Turning Point USA was active in over 3,500 college campuses. Wednesday’s event at UTU was the first in a series of university visits he had scheduled for the fall semester in what was called the “American Comeback Tour,” continuing the “Prove Me Wrong” debates he held on college campuses in previous years. The events frequently drew protestors from the left.
The White House, including President Trump, his family members, and his cabinet members, reacted in shock and anger to the assassination. Trump straightaway blamed rhetoric from the “radical left” and the “terrorism” it engendered for the killing even before the assassin was identified. “This is a dark moment for America,” he said, before ordering all American flags to be flown at half-mast even though Kirk held no formal position in the government.
Kirk’s political philosophy evolved from traditional Republican views on limited government and fiscal responsibility to a more populist, culture-war-oriented brand of conservatism closely aligned with Trump's MAGA movement. He was an unabashed Christian conservative who believed his faith was deeply intertwined with politics, and he often made provocative statements on issues like gender, race, and religion.
Kirk supporters in and outside the administration bombarded Democrats, progressives, and liberals with invective even though the killing was roundly condemned in all quarters amid renewed questions about permissive gun culture advocated by conservatives. At least one Kirk fellow traveler on the right, Jack Posobiec, promised “retribution.”
Critics who pointed out the lack of outrage from the right when a Democratic lawmaker in Minnesota was assassinated in June were accused of “whataboutism,” and at least one commentator on cable TV was fired after pointing out that Kirk himself was a divisive figure who pushed hate speech aimed at certain groups.
Kirk, 31, who indeed founded an advocacy group for conservative politics called Turning Point USA , was engaged in a conversation with students at Utah Valley University when an unknown assailant lodged on a rooftop some 200 meters away pumped a single bullet into his neck. He slumped sideways, and as the audience around him scattered in horror, his security detail rushed him to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The assassin is still at large and his motive remains unknown.
Ironically, Kirk’s last words were on the divisive issue of gun violence. An audience member has just asked him “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?”, and he had responded: "Counting or not counting gang violence?” before the shot rang out.
A fierce defender of gun rights, Kirk had argued in a 2023 event that "it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment (the right to bear arms) to protect our other God-given rights.”
One of the most influential figures on the political right, Kirk’s Turning Point USA was active in over 3,500 college campuses. Wednesday’s event at UTU was the first in a series of university visits he had scheduled for the fall semester in what was called the “American Comeback Tour,” continuing the “Prove Me Wrong” debates he held on college campuses in previous years. The events frequently drew protestors from the left.
The White House, including President Trump, his family members, and his cabinet members, reacted in shock and anger to the assassination. Trump straightaway blamed rhetoric from the “radical left” and the “terrorism” it engendered for the killing even before the assassin was identified. “This is a dark moment for America,” he said, before ordering all American flags to be flown at half-mast even though Kirk held no formal position in the government.
Kirk’s political philosophy evolved from traditional Republican views on limited government and fiscal responsibility to a more populist, culture-war-oriented brand of conservatism closely aligned with Trump's MAGA movement. He was an unabashed Christian conservative who believed his faith was deeply intertwined with politics, and he often made provocative statements on issues like gender, race, and religion.
Kirk supporters in and outside the administration bombarded Democrats, progressives, and liberals with invective even though the killing was roundly condemned in all quarters amid renewed questions about permissive gun culture advocated by conservatives. At least one Kirk fellow traveler on the right, Jack Posobiec, promised “retribution.”
Critics who pointed out the lack of outrage from the right when a Democratic lawmaker in Minnesota was assassinated in June were accused of “whataboutism,” and at least one commentator on cable TV was fired after pointing out that Kirk himself was a divisive figure who pushed hate speech aimed at certain groups.
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