May Charlie Kirk's assassination finally open Republicans' eyes

Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot yesterday at his event in Utah.

On September 10th, 2025, Charlie Kirk — a conservative activist and founder of Turning Point USA — was fatally shot at Utah Valley University.

A word of advice, dear readers: I strongly encourage you not to seek out the video. The human eye is not meant to witness such bloodshed, and the human brain is not meant to process such atrocities.

Social media has seen its fair whirlwind over the last several days since the news broke. Many grieve the loss, while many others circulate some of his most despicable comments and plead with the public not to mourn such a man.

Several influencers have shared one of his most ardently fitting quotes: “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."

It is tragically ironic that Kirk died defending what he found most vital.

Though let's be clear: No one should die by the hands of gun violence. Donald Trump, Fox News and other conservative platforms are declaring that this assassination was a direct effect of the "radical left." However, if Republicans wish for Kirk's death to not be in vain, they must admit that while politics were more than likely an influential factor, the main problem is — and always has been — gun violence.

Charlie Kirk stood proudly for the Second Amendment, and he made clear that a child's life is an unfortunate but fair price to pay for the right to bear arms. We're now left to wonder whether his supporters may change their tune now that the subject of the bloodshed is someone they so strongly adored.

I will not pretend to have agreed with a single thing Charlie Kirk said, and I did not believe he was a good person. I will not mourn him, though I will not celebrate any act of gun violence. Fire cannot be fought with fire.

Moreover, I will continue to empathize with his family. No child should have to grow up without their father, and no woman should have to grow up without their husband. Still, the idea of not speaking ill of the dead is foolish. If you seek to remember Charlie Kirk, you must remember the kind of person he was. He was so proudly pro-life that he declared if his young daughter were to be raped and impregnated, he'd force her to carry the child to term. He fought against gay and transgender rights. He believed women were born to breed and marry and do little else. He supported President Trump's villainous campaign against immigration, and he additionally expressed loud anti-Semitic tendencies. The list goes on.

Still, no gun is more valuable than a human life. Charlie Kirk did not agree with this — and his pride was his downfall. He died by falling on his own sword.

Much less advertised was the Evergreen High School shooting which occurred the same day. It resulted in two casualties, including one teen who remains in critical condition. I unfollowed several people who posted in memorandum of Charlie Kirk — not because they mourned the man, but because it's the only time they've spoken up about gun violence. That horrible video I mentioned — watching how a tiny bullet sent a grown man so violently got thrusted toward his death? I immediately imagined that happening to a small child. It's such a terrible thing to imagine, but something we must think about. It is something we cannot shy away from.

Many will say now is not the right time to speak about the implications this may have on gun control. Many will say not to make Kirk's death political, but everything is political — and Charlie Kirk was a political activist. If Republicans truly wish to ensure Kirk's death was not in vain, they're going about it all wrong. They're silencing free speech by cancelling television networks and firing people (and wasn't free speech what Charlie Kirk stood most ardently for) rather than demanding fun reform so his death might not be only another number in a long series.

Additionally, let's remember that Republicans act differently when it's one of their own. The world seemed to stop this week, yet former Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman's gruesome murder quickly fell under the radar (so much so that President Trump himself was not familiar with her name). If you want to speak up against gun violence, you can't pick and choose who to speak up for.

Finally, you cannot be mad at people who refuse to mourn Charlie Kirk's death. You cannot be upset with people who feel a sense of relief that a racist, homophobic, misogynistic, transphobic, conservative extremist can no longer spew his harmful rhetoric.

But to those who do mourn him: Let this be eye-opening for you. Let this finally be what convinces you human life is more important than the right to bear arms.