The shooting of far-right commentator Charlie Kirk at a Utah university marks the latest in a series of rising political violence-related incidents in the US.
One of the highest profile allies of President Donald Trump, Kirk was shot in the neck at his speaking tour event after being asked a question by an audience member about mass shootings and gun violence.
Known for his controversial conservative views, Kirk has long been an outspoken advocate for gun rights. At one of his speaking events in April 2023, he was quoted saying: “I think it’s worth the 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.”
Having co-founded Turning Point USA in 2012, Kirk was an influential figure for the country’s young conservative movement and the “Make America Great Again” base. Kirk regularly floated around commentary that critics would call outlandish, including just two weeks ago, when he told Taylor Swift to “submit to her husband”, which was on par with his ultra conservative views on marriage and religion.
‘Political violence has no place in America’
People across the political spectrum have condemned Kirk’s killing, with both Democrats and Republicans saying there should be no place for political violence in the US.
Giving condolences for his ally, Trump wrote on his Truth Social: “The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie.”
In July 2024, Trump survived an assassination attempt while campaigning for presidential re-election. He was also targeted by a second assassin weeks later.
Also speaking out against violence, Trump’s political opponent and former vice-president Kamala Harris said she was “deeply disturbed” by the shooting of Kirk, who had organised against her presidential campaign last year.
“Let me be clear: Political violence has no place in America. I condemn this act, and we all must work together to ensure this does not lead to more violence,” she wrote.
Echoing this sentiment, Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who was grievously injured in a 2011 mass shooting, said: “Democratic societies will always have political disagreements, but we must never allow America to become a country that confronts those disagreements with violence.”
America’s gun violence problem
In honour of Kirk, Trump ordered all American flags throughout the country to be lowered to half-mast through to Sunday evening.
Meanwhile, on the same day as Kirk’s death in Utah, another shooting incident occurred in Denver, Colorado, with three students wounded on Wednesday after one of them opened fire with a handgun at Evergreen High School. This is at least the seventh school shooting in Colorado since the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School that killed 12 students and one teacher.
Just two weeks ago, another tragic mass shooting made headlines in Minnesota, where a gunman opened fire outside of a church at a Catholic school in Minneapolis, killing two children and injuring 18 others.
Already in 2025, the US has seen 356 mass shootings, according to a crowd-sourced database tracking the nationwide incidents. The site defines a ‘mass shooting’ as a single outburst of violence in which four or more people are shot.
When it comes to politically motivated gun violence, the US has seen a string of recent events, including the targeted shooting of the United Healthcare CEO in December last year, the targeted killing of a Democratic Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband in June and the attack from a gunman on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in August.
Authorities have not yet identified a motive for the most recent killing of Kirk. An investigation is ongoing, and FBI Director Kash Patel says the subject who was arrested in connection with the shooting has been released after an interrogation.