Former president Barack Obama mourned the slaying of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on Tuesday, urging the nation not to resort to political violence to resolve its differences.

Speaking at an annual event hosted by the nonprofit Jefferson Educational Society in Erie, Pennsylvania, Obama said the shooting of Charlie Kirk last week as well as the June attacks on Minnesota lawmakers — including the killings of state Rep. Melissa Hortman (D) and her husband — were “horrific and a tragedy.”

“There are no ifs, ands or buts about it. The central premise of our democratic system is that we have to be able to disagree and have sometimes really contentious debates without resort to violence,” he said, in a wide-ranging interview that also touched on themes including Israel’s war in Gaza, and

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