Charlie Kirk was murdered this past Wednesday, Sept. 10. He was a right-wing activist who attended and hosted right-wing rallies around the country and hosted a daily podcast in which he talked about his political views and opinions. While having a discussion about transgender mass shooters, he was shot in the neck at Utah Valley University. It is difficult to speak on the death of another human being, but we can speak, discuss and act upon what keeps driving these events to happen.
Photo courtesy of Gage Skidmore on Flickr.
As more news of gun violence arises and society continues to be hyperactive on social media, it is inevitable, natural even, to develop an opinion on the topic. Yet we develop opinions on the event and the people surrounding it. We fixate on the minor details that lead up to more myths, when our focus should really be centered on the norms and policies that factored into the death of Kirk. This enables gun violence to be a recurring event. Let us ask the question: whose death will it take for it to finally be enough?
What really is the cost of being able to defend ourselves when kids can’t be guaranteed to be safe at school, families can’t sleep tranquilly in their own homes and people aren’t able to speak their mind? The same day as the assassination of Kirk, a school shooting occurred at Evergreen High School in Colorado. Two children were injured and the amount of trauma that those kids will have to live with now is something that could’ve been completely avoided.
There is also all the unspoken gun violence from which many suffer every single day but doesn’t make any headlines. In the case of Kirk, it is a devastating fact that his family must now live like all those that have lost a loved one due to homicide, domestic violence, school shootings, or the simple misuse of a firearm within reach. We continue to prioritize owning a gun for one’s own safety rather than thinking of the truly greater objective of a nation: the common good.
The Second Amendment was originally made to ensure the power of a state militia and along with every other amendment, it can be reinterpreted. We have a living constitution which allows us to continue to progress and advance reforms in order to make a better nation. The nature of our constitution gives us the power to adapt the understanding of our rights in a way that fits our current context rather than the context that existed when the constitution was created. Yet we continue to step backwards.
On one of those steps backwards was the election of President Donald Trump. Trump referred to Kirk as “legendary” on a recent post on X, formerly known as Twitter. The leader of our nation praised a man who thought it was worth it have gun violence deaths if that meant keeping the Second Amendment, and it was our nation that elected a president like this. Not all norms stem from the president, surely, and it is the people who at the end of the day vote for all our representatives. Through elections, we create and execute the norms we have to follow.
I do not agree with any of the political views Kirk had and I find it hard to empathize with and mourn somebody who said such repugnant things. I am not celebrating his death, however, nor discussing if he deserved it. I feel sorry for his family just as I would feel for any other human. I hope this past event makes this country wake up and realize that gun violence does not have exceptions or care about anybody’s ideology. We as humans have the freedom to shape entirely new social realities, according to David Graeber and David Wengrow. What is stopping this so-called “land of the free” from doing so? It is simply sad to know that these are recurrent problems. Gun violence is so frequent that it’s rarely much of a scandal anymore. It shouldn’t only be the death of a public figure that causes revolt and concern. The death of a public figure shouldn’t be what it takes for a call for action from all political ideologies.