Charlie Kirk's Legacy

Comments

• Mark

  9:21AM

  "A life cut down by an assassin. A very sad day for freedom of speech."
  
  "In 2023, Kirk said that gun deaths are unfortunately “worth it” for the preservation of Second Amendment rights in the United States of America. He was speaking after a mass shooting killed six people, including children, at the Christian Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee."
  
  Indeed. I don't believe that we should go around killing each other over our beliefs.
  
  Did you have similar feelings the day a MN lawmaker, her husband and the family dog were gunned down by an assassin?
  
  
• a2z

  9:54AM

  
  doesn't really help things when ~40% of the nation simply follows potus\rightwing media on which innocent deaths deserve empathy.
  maybe alex jones can chime in.
• bee

  10:21AM edited 11:22AM

  Mark said:

  
  Did you have similar feelings the day a MN lawmaker, her husband and the family dog were gunned down by an assassin?
  

  Both of these incidences you referenced are unacceptable. Personally, I don't agree with Charlie's point. No death by violence is ever acceptable.
  
  Sobering stat:

  The U.S. has averaged more than one mass shooting per day since the start of 2023, per the archive, which puts the nation on track to exceed the 647 recorded mass shootings of 2022.

  The second amendment provides citizens the right to bare arms to defend themselves against violence, not perpetrate violence.
  
  Murder by a mass shooter or an assassin is against the law. Defending oneself it not.
  
  I queried your quote and found the following quotes from a Newsweek article I will link.:

  "You will never live in a society when you have an armed citizenry and you won't have a single gun death," Kirk said at a Turning Point USA Faith event on Wednesday, as reported by Media Matters for America. "That is nonsense. It's drivel. But I am—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. That is a prudent deal. It is rational. Nobody talks like this. They live in a complete alternate universe."

  https://newsweek.com/charlie-kirk-says-gun-deaths-worth-it-2nd-amendment-1793113
  
  Charlie paid the ultimate price for thinking gun violence deaths "are worth it".
• gman57

  12:10PM

  I lost my faith after Newtown, if a massacre of TWENTY 6-7 year old's and 6 adults did NOTHING to change our outlook on sensible gun safety I'm afraid nothing will.
• hank

  1:15PM edited 1:16PM

  Thank you @bee for posting this. I didn’t know who Charlie Kirk was. But from the clips I watched for an hour or so last evening he appears to have been an extraordinarily gifted communicator. I might have enjoyed hearing him speak even though I probably disagreed with 90% of his views. One more senseless tragedy in an unending string of tragedies - from school kids to political leaders.
• DrVenture

  3:01PM edited 3:35PM

  Charlie Kirk was, dare I say it, dead wrong about gun rights. Like so many others, he missed the point about The Second Amendment and gun control. It is not black and white. If it turns out that the rifle he was shot with was made of parts bought from gun shows and untraceable, and the shooter is never found, would that be acceptable? These are the things that many fight to preserve. And availability of high-powered devices with no purpose but mass killing. Not for hunting or defense, but to kill as many humans as possible in the shortest time.
  
  The second amendment is only 27 words. It says nothing about mental state or age or much of anything. In a literal reading, one would be constitutionally obligated to let a 7-year old own automatic weapons. Or allow a prison inmate to have a gun. Both being vulnerable members of society. The Second Amendment would not, in a literal reading, allow us to take a gun from someone with mental illness and violent tendencies. Or prevent ownership based on prior convictions.
  
  Yet, many use a strictly literal interpretation to argue against any gun constraints. There is no rational dialogue in that mindset. Though I bet that he and his assailant were in agreement on this topic.
• DrVenture

  3:05PM

  I would add that I grew up when you could walk into a Walmart, show out-of-state ID that proved your age, and walk out with a rifle or handgun. No one would even remember your name. I used to walk to school with a rifle, store it at school, then go to gun club after school ended for the day. This is not those times any more.
• DrVenture

  3:10PM

  gman57 said:

  I lost my faith after Newtown, if a massacre of TWENTY 6-7 year old's and 6 adults did NOTHING to change our outlook on sensible gun safety I'm afraid nothing will.

  That really gets to the point!
  
• davidrmoran

  3:21PM

  I am almost dumbfounded at the reactions to Kirk's murder, who made his lucrative career loudly and repeatedly saying vile ugly things about women, nonwhites, progtards, and much more, all under the guise of debate.
• Old_Joe

  3:29PM

  Well, that pretty well describes almost all of the right-wing commentators, doesn't it?
• DrVenture

  3:33PM

  I agree with you, David. No one wants to say that part out loud. And be accused of attacking a victim, during a time of grief. Give it another day and things will be different, I am sure.
  
  The guy abetted social divisions, and wrangled votes for an authoritarian. He turned up the temperature, never down. The fact he may have been eloquent about it, is not really relevant.
  
  I have a female friend who once said, about NFL players who sued over brain injuries, that "they knew what they were getting into". If she ever mentions Charlie Kirk to me, I will say, "He knew what he was getting into". That'll be a hoot!
• Crash

  5:39PM

  DrVenture said:

  I would add that I grew up when you could walk into a Walmart, show out-of-state ID that proved your age, and walk out with a rifle or handgun. No one would even remember your name. I used to walk to school with a rifle, store it at school, then go to gun club after school ended for the day. This is not those times any more.

  Yes, the nutjobs have hijacked the whole environment. I taught kids to shoot .22 cal rifles at targets at summer camp in central Florida in the 1970s. No tests, requirements, credentials necessary. Of course, SAFETY first!
  
  Some switch was flipped, something clicked and changed the entire Big Picture. These days, the violent barf-heads rule the day. Sad and ridiculous.