Shooting of Charlie Kirk shocks Iowa State students and raises concerns about political violence
College students and political violence researchers condemn the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
College students and political violence researchers condemn the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
College students and political violence researchers condemn the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Students at Iowa State University Thursday grappled with the news that conservative activist in Utah the day prior.
Kirk, 31, was the founder of Turning Point USA, an organization that promotes conservative politics on high school and college campuses. His work has influenced young conservatives across the country, including in Iowa.
On Iowa State’s campus, the news hit hard for students who followed Kirk's career closely.
“I felt my heart drop into my stomach," Brandon Simmons, who leads Iowa State’s College Republicans, said. "I had to walk outside of my class to take a breather because it just hit me all at once.”
Brandon Simmons said he grew up watching Kirk and following Turning Point USA. He said he met Kirk at the Republican National Convention last summer. “You can’t deny that he has had a prominent impact on discourse," he said. “A lot of this work he has done, and his colleagues have done, have motivated me to step up, you know, outward, to promote my ideas.”
Iowa State College Democrats did not respond to vlog's request for comment.
A group of Democrats at the University of Iowa sent vlog a statement, writing that "the horrific events that transpired at Evergreen High School and Utah Valley University yesterday serve as yet another reminder that gun violence is a threat to us all."
University Democrats at Iowa added that gun violence "spares no ideology, and leaves nothing but grief in its path."
"We extend our sympathy to all of those affected — and we stand firm in our belief that political violence is never the answer," the statement said. "We hope we can come together as a country to pass legislation ensuring that this ever-present darkness in American society can become something of the past.”
Simmons said Kirk’s death raises new questions about safety for student political leaders. “If it can happen to Charlie, it can happen to me. It can happen to any of my conservative Republican colleagues.”
Experts say the killing is part of a troubling trend of rising threats and harassment in political spaces.
“I think, including the tragic events of yesterday, we’re in a fairly dangerous inflection point," Shannon Hiller, executive director of the Bridging Divides Institute at Princeton University, said.
She added that stopping political violence starts with condemning it.
“Now is really not the time to be scoring political points or to be seeking to divide us," she said. "We can talk about the facts of this complex, escalating climate without calling for retribution on a whole class of the American public. That’s what escalates violence instead, and we shouldn’t do it.”
Hiller also points to a mix of factors driving the increase in political violence.
“We think threats and harassment and these types of high-profile attacks have combined to have the same or worse chilling effect on civic engagement. So, I think when you add those to a lot of other contextual factors like availability of weapons, like lack of mental health services, you really have this dangerous mix of factors that can lead to some of these most shocking attacks," she said.
She emphasizes that moving forward means continuing to engage in civil discourse and debate without resorting to violence.
“Sometimes when people talk about turning down the temperature, they think we mean stop disagreeing on policy," Hiller said. "And that can’t possibly be true, right? We have to find ways to disagree even vehemently, without resorting to threats, harassment, and violence.”
For Simmons, the message is clear: political engagement must continue even in the face of fear.
“Political violence is not the answer. Political violence is a sign of a declining society," he said. "And the way to remedy that is through public discourse.”
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