Sad, Yet Scary Times

Another week in America has been rocked by violence on school campuses. The first week of the fall semester was already marked by sadness; A shooting in Minneapolis killed and injured multiple children. On September 10, another school shooting happened at a Colorado high school. That same day marked yet another shooting in Utah. Needless to say, one shooting is too many. One injury is too many. One death is too many.

picture of Trump and Kirk, tweet from Trump on Kirk's death

As a former libertarian who no longer identifies as one because people who label themselves as such in America currently don't align with the values that initially interested me in the party, I am quite disgusted in the different ways these acts of violence are treated by those in power. School shootings have been justified as necessary in order to protect second amendment rights. Somewhere in the last 10 or 15 years, people have become desensitized by gun violence on school campuses. Some may still offer thoughts and prayers, but it has gotten to the point of school shootings not even being news anymore, but a commonplace occurrence. As an educator and college student, it saddens me each time I see the news. I know other shootings may not make it to my newsfeed and feel sad about those as well.

Sad

The shooting in Utah this week was different than other recent events of gun violence on college campuses in the fact that there was one death and it was not a student or employee, but a political star, Charlie Kirk. He was known as a Christian, right-wing speaker, and some of his beliefs and commentary did offend people who were immigrants, people of color, LGBT+, or female. Still, he had a very large group of loyal followers. I didn't know how many of my own friends and family were a part of that group until I saw my Instagram feed drowning in "RIP Charlie Kirk" stories this week.

I personally was not a fan of Charlie Kirk. His rhetoric on sensitive topics like abortion for SA'd children and gun violence seemed very aggressive and lacked empathy (or sympathy, really). I didn't like that. Still, a death is a loss of life and it is sad how he died. I do feel bad for his family and friends; he leaves behind two young children and a wife. I likewise feel sad about the children who died in school shootings, often unnamed as they were not as famous as Kirk. Rest in Peace Harper, Fletcher, and the other youth victims of gun violence.

Scary

School shootings often turn scary then sad. What's different about Kirk's death is how it turns sad into scary again. And that scary isn't just about gun violence; it's about the rhetoric we see from Kirk's supporters versus the rhetoric we see from families who also lost loved ones due to gun violence.

Charlie Kirk's wife, Erika, posted a video addressing the public after his shooting. While there are many thank yous and memories of Charlie in his wife's address, there are also some strange moments too. She says that he wanted to "revive the American family" if voted into office. Erika associates this with experiencing a lovely life and that he wanted everybody to experience that lovely life, but it also feels very strict and again, aggressive to me. What brought Charlie joy might not bring joy for every other person. I know I myself don't want kids and being forced to have them would be the opposite experience for me compared to Charlie and Erika. The idea of forcing childbirth and childrearing on me was enough for me to sterilize myself so nobody could force me to do what I did not want to do. Her detailed description of this is a big part of his legacy, as she mentions not just his friends but the people he "inspired to start families" in her speech.

After this, Erika speaks to the people behind his murder: "You have no idea what you just have unleashed across this entire country and this world." The phrasing and her tone emphasizing her anger, not just pain, make it feel like a threat. What has been unleashed? I can hope for no more violence, but that isn't what I hear in this moment. She mentions her mourning as a "battlecry" that will not be ignored and that her husband's name will not be forgotten. I wonder what mothers and fathers of school shooting victims feel in their parallel moments. Will their battlecries against gun violence also not be ignored? Will their children also not be forgotten? Are their vows as angry and sad as hers, even though their children were not as famous as Charlie?

What goes further in scaring me is the president's reaction to Charlie Kirk's death. Flags were at half mast for his death, and those who defied the order are being fired or punished at work. This strikes me as strange since Kirk was not a political servant of the country but rather Trump's right-wing political following. Trump also didn't do this for the Minnesotan lawmaker and her husband who were shot and killed; this was shown to be a politically-motivated attack against the democrats earlier this summer. Was this done for all the other school shooting murders as well? No.

Trump's rhetoric also fuels separation of political parties, blaming the left, while democrat leaders showed sympathy for what happened to Kirk. While Kirk was indeed a controversial figure (not "loved by ALL" as Trump claims), his death is sad and scary. The rhetoric he shares makes it seem like we had to agree with Kirk even if we are not as sad about his death as his friends and family expect us to mirror. That's not true. You can be scared and sad, angry and sad, relieved and sad at the same time. While I was not Kirk's fan, I can still feel sad about another violent act as school and another life lost. Instead of fueling violence, Trump should be using his station of power to call for bipartisan peace and draw attention to stopping these kinds of mass shooting events from happening again and again and again. These shootings all have different motivations, ones we might never know or understand. Stop blaming one political party when people on all sides are suffering. And stop just offering thoughts and prayers as remedies post-gun violence; preventative action here is key!

Despite my love for shooting, there are ways to help prevent these recurrences without completely taking away second amendment rights. Background checks, waiting periods for purchasing, and limiting types of firearms that can be sold don't end gun rights for Americans; they continue our rights while also making sure guns don't end up in the wrong hands. It might not fix illegal gun ownership, but every shooting and murder prevented is worth it. Every life matters; every loss from gun violence one too many.

#IDMD #Idisappointmydad #kirk #charliekirk #trump #shooting #violence #SA #turningpointusa