Maeve Bidonde, Staff Writer
On September 10th Charlie Kirk was killed at Utah Valley University. According to NPR Vice President J.D Vance hosted an episode of Kirk’s podcast and blamed “incredibly destructive movement of left-wing extremism” for Kirk’s murder. However those comments and similar ones lost some of their effectiveness when 22 year old Tyler Robinson turned himself in to the police. Robinson was then rumored to have grown up in a conservative household however he had started to lean to the left before the shooting.
The dissenting opinions about the shooting have resulted in Jimmy Kimmel’s show being yanked off the air for saying that the shooter might be a MAGA member. Jimmy Kimmel was not the only one fired for comments made about the shooting. According to NBC News former Trump Advisor Steve Bannon called for mass arrests and the Secretary of State called for staff to identify service members who celebrated, condoned, or mocked Kirk’s death. University Professors, school teachers, airline pilots, health care workers, and even an Office Depot employee have been fired for celebrating the death and the Office Depot worker was fired for refusing to print a poster about Charlie Kirk.
Kirk’s death has also sparked a political divide that has centered on Representative Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota. Omar gave an interview that was criticized by Republicans for disparaging his legacy. According to Fox News Omar said “There are a lot of people who are out there talking about him just wanting to have a civil debate, There is nothing more effed up, you know, like, than to completely pretend that, you know, his words and actions have not been recorded and in existence for the last decade or so.”
However, part of the divide sparks from the issue that the death of Kirk, a Public Figure, got more attention and more political devastation than the brutal murder of Democratic Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman, her husband, and their dog Gilbert. His post about Hortman was a quick impersonal “Such Political violence will not be tolerated” post while Kirk got a heartfelt eulogy and long winded address on political violence. The future of gun politics is uncertain amidst the current media coverage of Kirk’s death.
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