What does Charlie Kirk’s death mean?

Charlie Kirk’s name is infamous in the political community. He harassed many random people to get his twisted and illogical point across and went to colleges to have debates with untrained debaters just to say, “America doesn’t need college.” He was a selfish man whose destructive intentions could ruin our country if spread. Even with all of his immature methods, he somehow made it into “President” Donald Trump’s trusted crowd. He has spoken with, advised, and even been brought up as a potential part of Trump’s regime.

Yesterday, while doing one of his college debates at Utah Valley University, he was shot in the neck while talking about gun violence. Cruel irony aside, this was a deplorable act. As a human with personal beliefs, I think that there is never, ever, an excuse to cause someone’s death before their time. Murder, assassinations, wars, and suicide, in my opinion, should never be an option. Whichever god, gods, or science you believe in put us on this planet for a reason. No one should be taken before their time.

Does this mean that I am sad that he is deceased? Absolutely not. He was a danger to those around him and to the country. He has said in the past that gun violence deaths are necessary to keep the rights of gun owners safe. He compared gun violence deaths to the many fatalities caused by car accidents, arguing that such deaths are necessary to maintain accessible and efficient transportation. This logic is not only flawed but also completely undermines the effect of the many people’s deaths in these situations. Neither gun violence nor car deaths protect people with guns or cars. Most gun and car deaths are caused directly by ignorance and selfishness. Even if these actions did protect people with guns, to protect more stupid people’s owning of guns does not mean gun violence is good. In fact, it makes it worse. There have to be more rigorous background checks, more rigorous training, and even more rigorous safety checks to regulate gun usage.

A lot of people are probably hoping that this situation will help conservatives realize this. Unfortunately, I don’t believe that this is the case. Conservative minds are especially quick to blame, judge, and act defensively. Already, we see people blaming this issue, not on their own personal view of guns, but on “libtards” being emotional. Political violence never proves or solves anything. I am worried, however, about conservative retaliation. If there is a political assassination against a liberal, the government will stop at nothing to catch the person responsible, and the liberal people will assist in this endeavor. When a conservative is shot, however, the government will stop at nothing to catch any liberal, POC, immigrant, member of the LGBT+ community, etc., that has ever owned a gun. The conservative people take it into their own hands and tend to retaliate against an innocent party. We even see this in non-deadly situations like what happened in the January 6 attack on the Capitol. This shooting starts the events that start a war.

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 triggered an escalation of existing tension between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. This eventually caused the start of World War 1. The Archduke’s assassination started events that started a war. Charlie Kirk, a high-standing and well-known member of the conservative party, was assassinated by a liberal person, a party that has had rising partisan conflicts with the conservatives in recent years because of a dictator. This will heighten tension, just like in World War 1, and start a war. I’m convinced that it will spark America’s second civil war. But, it might also spark the official World War 3 that we have seen igniting with related conflicts between Russia and Ukraine as well as Israel and Palestine.

There is never a reason to resort to political violence. There is always another solution that doesn’t result in people’s deaths. Even if the person has indirectly caused a lot of deaths, we need to fight against it and use our voices, not our weapons. All that we can do now is pray that retaliation, and thus, a war, doesn’t happen. That this shooting stands alone as a single event and doesn’t result in anything more than the arresting of the person involved. I agree with the shooter’s principles, just not their means of action. I disagree with every single thing that Charlie Kirk has ever spat out of his ignorant mouth, but this is not a deserved way to die. Cruel irony is cruel for a reason.