Charlie Kirk assassinated at Utah university, aged 31

[thewayne]

Kirk, a conservative activist, was the founder of Turning Point USA and a regular speaker at colleges and universities. He would challenge people to debates and was good at turning said debates to conservative talking points.

The shooting happened not long after his talk began, his security rushed him to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead. The campus, Utah Valley University in Orem, went into lock-down and shelter in place. While one arrest was made on-site, that person was later released. The assassin is still at large at this time.

POTUS has ordered flags at the White House to half-mast and Mike Johnson a moment of silence in the House of Reps.

It is reported that the shooter was on the roof of a near-by building, about 200' away.

Tots and pears. It's hard for me to say that our political process should not devolve into violence when the party in power incites violence daily.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/live/charlie-kirk-shooting-live-updates-conservative-activist-shot-at-utah-valley-university-event-school-says-190606372.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/live-blog/live-updates-shooting-charlie-kirk-event-utah-rcna230437

[Edit: the shooter was on top of the building 200 YARDS, not feet, away. I should have caught that. I believe the measured distance was 183 yards. The weapon was a bolt-action high-powered rifle, basically a hunting rifle. It was recovered a few hours after the murder, with the fired round still in the chamber.]

Comments

[silveradept]

"Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind" is one of the lesser-known Biblical quotations, but it certainly seems to be one that is apt and applicable here. And, as has been quoted extensively elsewhere, this was a man who believed that gun deaths were an acceptable consequence of the freedom to kill the people he wanted to die with guns. He's being promoted as a martyr by the people who want to mass-slaughter others. In a sensible world, we would be bemoaning the ease of access to guns that allowed this to happen, but otherwise focusing our attention on others who are dying from gun violence because of people like him.