One Falls but Millions Take His Place

Around 12:20pm on Wednesday, September 10th, Charlie Kirk was shot during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, UT. Kirk was rushed to the hospital but succumbed to the wounds, having been sniped in the throat.

Kirk was 31 years old and is survived by his wife and two children. In 2012, he had founded the organization Turning Point USA, which promotes “traditional American values like patriotism, respect for life, liberty, family, and fiscal responsibility.” Turning Point USA was in the practice of going to varsity campuses for dialogues with students about politics, academia and culture.

At time of writing, 11:09am on Thursday, September 11th, Kirk’s shooter is at large and unknown. Some commentary about the incident suggests that an ideological opponent of Kirk killed him, but that is unknown at this time. Even news outlets – which should know better – are labelling the incident an “assassination,” which is a murder for political or religious reasons. (Oxford Dictionary of English) Kirk certainly had many political enemies, but at present we have no way of knowing whether one such enemy was responsible. For all anyone knows at this time, it could have been over something personal. This point is worth emphasis because some threads online are rushing to conclusions along the lines of “us versus them,” when in fact we’re unsure whether there is a them in any clear sense.

To that end, it helps no one that certain progressivists are now publishing statements along the lines of “There’s irony in the fact that Kirk advocated for the Second Amendment only to get gunned down.” To leverage Kirk’s murder for corroboration of progressive disdain of the 2A is tasteless and very short-sighted. It’s akin to telling conservatives that they should murder Robert Reich or Sam Seder… just use a garrote instead of a gun. It misses the point that it is never acceptable violently to silence ideological opponents.

What we do know about Kirk’s shooting – what is obvious to any observer – is that this was premeditated. This was a rooftop snipe at considerable distance, with arrangements for escape. The stiffest penalties at criminal law are reserved for premeditated homicide, which is murder in the first degree, so hopefully anyone responsible is apprehended and prosecuted to the law’s fullest extent.

In all honesty, I disliked much of what I saw of Kirk in these campus engagements with Turning Point USA. Often I saw Kirk humiliating students who had questioned him at these events. Some of these students may have come in bad faith, but it always struck me as graceless to dunk on them just to grandstand for sympathizers in the audience. A dose of empathy could have gone further to turn adversaries into admirers.

Nevertheless, it is indisputable that Charlie Kirk has built a formidable national organization which overall is exerting positive influence on politics in the USA. We may never see his like again.

My sincerest condolences to his family, friends and supporters.