David J. Butler

Charlie Kirk’s murder is a tragedy. A wife lost her husband. Two children lost their father. Millions of Americans — some who admired him, others who despised him — lost a voice that shaped politics. No one deserves to be gunned down in cold blood. Political violence corrodes democracy, whether the victim is a progressive activist or a conservative firebrand. We mourn his loss.

But mourning should not mean blindness. Kirk was killed by a 22-year-old who had ready access to a rifle. He might still be alive if our laws did not make it effortless for unstable young men to arm themselves with military-style weapons. You cannot flood a country with guns, exalt them as the essence of liberty and then act shocked when someone pulls the trigger.

Kirk himself helped shape this cu

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