If you are a young adult with access to social media, it’s safe to assume that you have seen at least one debate featuring the conservative influencer, Charlie Kirk.
Charles James Kirk, known as Charlie Kirk, was a right-wing American internet personality who rose to popularity over his political activism and widespread social media presence.
In 2012, at the age of 18, Kirk co-founded the Arizona-based organization Turning Point USA, which advocated for conservative politics on high school and post-secondary campuses across the U.S.
Kirk’s work through Turning Point — now boasting activities on 3,500 campuses across the U.S. — allowed him to become a regular feature on Fox News and conservative media, where he is often seen debating subjects such as climate change, reproductive rights, the LGBTQIA+ community, religion, gender roles and gun control.
Kirk’s social media platforms and podcast also feature clips of him debating such issues with post-secondary students. Kirk’s remarks on these topics often received heavy criticism with allegations of misogyny and homophobia from many viewers.
Kirk was well known for his public support of and relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump. His efforts with get-out-the-vote operations through Turning Point USA played a major role in battleground states during the 2024 American presidential election. This led to Trump himself crediting Kirk for the many young Americans who voted Republican:
“I want to express my tremendous gratitude to Charlie Kirk — he’s really an amazing guy […] and his whole staff for their relentless efforts to achieve this very historic victory […] It’s not my victory, it’s your victory,” said Trump.
The assassination of Charlie Kirk
Tragically, Kirk was shot and killed on Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University, the first stop on Turning Point’s 14-city American Comeback Tour.
The Utah Department of Public Safety has labelled the fatal shooting a targeted attack, with Utah Governor Spencer cox referring to it as a “political assassination”.
Authorities identified and arrested 22-year-old Tyler Robinson of Washington, Utah. According to a law official, Robinson’s father saw the video footage of the suspect released by authorities and asked his son “Tyler, is this you? This looks like you.”
After confessing to his father that he had shot Kirk, Robinson’s father attempted to persuade him to confide in a youth pastor who works for the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Marshal’s Service. Ultimately, it was a family friend who contacted the sheriff’s office, over three hours away from where the shooting occurred.
At 10 p.m. on Sept. 11 — hours after authorities had announced that they had “no idea” where the suspect had gone — Robinson was in custody. Gov. Cox announced “we got him” at a news conference the next morning.
Prior to the shooting, Kirk was asked a question about the number of mass shooters in America within the last 10 years. Kirk was heard responding with, “Counting or not counting gang violence?” when a popping sound, later identified as a gunshot, rang out.
Videos taken by attendees and uploaded to social media show the crowd screaming as Kirk falls back into his seat, with an obvious injury to his neck.
Kirk, aged 31, is survived by his wife, Erika Kirk, and their two children.
Gun violence debates resurface online
Less than an hour after the fatal shooting of Kirk, tragedy struck a Denver-area high school when shots were fired early afternoon. An unidentified male student shot two fellow students before turning the gun on himself.
Kirk’s assassination and the subsequent high school shooting caused the topic of gun control to resurface on social media.
Many U.S. political figures shared their condolences to the Kirk family, Republicans and Democrats alike. Vice President J.D. Vance shared a tribute on social media, referring to Kirk as a “true friend,” stating that he had “prayed a lot” upon learning of Kirk’s condition.
In addition to offering their sympathy, some democratic figures are calling for increased gun control. Progressive New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called the incident “tremendously disturbing” and emphasised America’s need for gun safety legislation to be passed by congress, stating:
“Every single day, there are people in this building that continue to vote against doing anything […] They continue to support legislation and also remove any way to block the mentally ill, to block extremists, to block people with histories and records of domestic violence from getting guns in their hands. So, are we going to do something about this or not?”
In a case of tragic irony, Kirk was outspoken about his support for gun ownership and the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment: the right to keep and bear arms. When asked the best way to defend the Second Amendment at a Turning Point event in 2023, Kirk said in his response:
“You will never live in a society when you have an armed citizenry, and you won’t have a single gun death. That is nonsense. It’s drivel. But I […] think it’s worth it. 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.”
In 2023 alone, there were 15,186 victims of gun homicide in the U.S., forming a gun homicide rate of 4.42 per 100,000 people, making it the sixth highest in the world.
The data is clear: the U.S. sees more than just “some” gun deaths.
Law enforcement recovered a weapon following the assassination of Kirk and have currently identified it as a high-powered, bolt-action rifle. According to the National Rifle Association, bolt-action rifles are the “quintessential rifle action for military, hunting and target-shooting applications.” Bolt-action rifles require users to manually reload them each time they want to fire.
According to retired Marine Lt. Col. Hal Kempfer, “The spent cartridge often remains inside the chamber of a bolt-action rifle, it prevents the shooter from leaving any forensic evidence for investigators to work with.”
It’s safe to say that nobody needs a bolt-action rifle to defend themselves.
In fact, if you were to be attacked and needed to defend yourself, as many gun rights activists argue in defence of the Second Amendment, a weapon that requires manual reloading would not do you much good.
Ultimately, the horrific death of Charlie Kirk adds yet another name to the growing list of innocent American lives that have been cut short by firearms.
Though his career featured sharp debates over this very right, his passing becomes part of the larger paradox: a society unwilling to confront the costs of its gun culture, even when those costs fall on its own advocates.