September 10. Controversial figure and Conservative Youth Activist, Charlie Kirk, begins his The American Comeback Tour at Utah Valley University, where he debates college students across the country. Only 20 minutes into the event, a single shot rang out. Before a stunned audience, and before his own wife and two children, Kirk slumped over in his seat and fell to the ground. Following this horrific and inexcusable tragedy, we must admit: this is not how we solve problems.
Come the early morning on September 11, no suspect has been identified or taken into custody. But that is not the purpose of this article. The point is this: violence is not the answer.
As a liberal, I was horrified reading reports in The New York Times as the events unfolded. I was horrified watching the video spread across countless websites of Mr. Kirk collapsing from his chair. I was horrified as the President announced his death on Truth Social. And perhaps worst of all, I was horrified to see one side of the aisle celebrating while the other side demanded vengeance through the same means of violence that Mr. Kirk disavowed.
Mr. Kirk was a youth conservative activist with close ties to the Trump Administration. He represented many positions that I oppose-his policies on LGBTQ+ rights, education, and his unwavering amplification of Donald Trump’s rhetoric placed him firmly against causes I and many others hold dear. But let’s be clear: no political disagreement justifies murder. Violence doesn’t end ideas, it multiplies them. And now? There will be a million other Charlie Kirks.
So I say again: this is not how we solve problems. Not in Utah, not in Washington, not in America. We solve them by speaking, by voting, by debating as Mr. Kirk did. We the people challenge lies with truth, and we call out hypocrisy. Violence is the language of desperation, of cowardice, and of people who’ve already lost their argument. And when we resort to it, we do not win – we only guarantee that nobody else does.
We should have learned this lesson already. We should have learned it when Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was shot in the head while meeting with constituents in Arizona. We should have learned it when two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses were gunned down earlier this year. We should have learned it when an armed man attempted to take Donald Trump’s life on stage. Each time, whether the victim is Republican or Democrat or Populist or Socialist, conservative or liberal, the lesson is the same: bullets don’t solve political battles. They only deepen them.
And yet here we are, watching people online laugh, celebrate, and share memes about a man’s death. If you cheer this violence, you have abandoned democracy. If you think this is justice, you have become the very danger you claim to oppose. When you clap for a bullet, you betray the ballot. When you glorify murder, you guarantee more of it.
That is the truth we need to face. Political Assassination is not activism. It does not build movements, it poisons them. And every time we excuse it, every time we celebrate it, we pave the road for the next tragedy.
I am still reeling in shock from the news and I have to say this: after listening to my fellow countrymen rejoice to murder, I am not proud to be an American today.
