Charlie Kirk dead

[Booneymil]

The last thread was taken down because of personal insults towards the man.

We should be able to have a thread about this news topic.

Report any insulting posts. Mumsnet can you please just delete the offending posts, instead of deleting the whole thread?

Thank you.

Charlie Kirk has died today. He was shot at a public talk that he was giving.

I yoinked this comment from Reddit and I think it's better expressing my feelings than I'd be able to.

""Charlie Kirk built his brand on division, outrage, and fear, especially around guns, race, gender, and “culture war” politics. He’s spent years telling his audience that mass shootings are just the “cost of liberty,” that gun deaths are “worth it,” and that armed citizens are the solution, not the problem. But today, that rhetoric came full circle. No one deserves violence, not children in schools, not worshipers in churches, not innocent people in public spaces, and not even those who have spent years justifying it. But we can’t ignore the boomerang effect of spreading hate, radicalizing followers, and shrugging off preventable deaths as a political tradeoff. When you pour gasoline on the fire of American extremism, it eventually burns everything, including those who lit the match. Kirk once said gun violence is “part of liberty.” Today, he’s living the consequences of the world he helped shape. Words matter. Hate has consequences. And the truth is, you can only normalize violence for so long before it finds its way back to you.""

Saying 10yos who are raped should not be allowed an abortion is, though.

And I don't want to live in the world they've created. It's so fucking awful.

this might be a turning point for me.

I'd ignore internet sleuths to be honest and wait for an official announcement.

FBI appear to be saying a person of interest is in custody (not a suspect), police seem to be saying an active search is still underway

He wasn't a politician but a political commentator who visited a college. Those young people must be so traumatised by what happened today in front of them. I'm sure their parents will be very worried about them.

I remember my mother crying when John F Kennedy was assassinated. I didn't understand why at the time.

Ok I wasn’t aware he’d said that, jeeus christ.

I am sitting here shell shocked. I just unwittingly clicked on the video of him literally being shot and it’s seriously fucking fucked me up, pease don’t go on tick-tock everyone,

Look how well that's working out.

It is quite the dichotomy though - Land of The Free, supposedly with freedom of speech better than UK, but with the proviso 50% of your audience might be carrying a gun. I'm not sure I'd like those odds or call it "freedom"

Is it? I think that many religious people do not agree with abortion, under any circumstances.

Why have you started this thread?

In shock, really.
I didn’t agree with his positions on many things, like his loyalty to Trump, his hard line on abortion, and some of his views about women’s roles in society.

However he was also incredibly brave - he would go anywhere to debate anyone about anything. He believed that talking to people who have different views and agreeing to disagree was essential to a healthy democracy and society. We don’t have enough people like that and we couldn’t afford to lose him.

To discuss an important news topic
Of course

Being against abortion isn’t exactly a radical viewpoint to hold, for religious people.

Yes absolutely. To that it reads like FBI have picked up that guy but don’t think it’s him.

How about "Preaching hate and division is going to have consequences and sometimes that comes back on you regardless of if you're liberal, right wing, right leaning or anything."

For someone who tries to come across as a big softie, leftie-liberal idealist you're being cold-hearted, smug, and self-righteous today about Charlie Kirk's death. Catch yourself on and think of the man's wife and children having to live without him and having to see his murder.

I saw enough of that sort of horror during the Troubles and I don't wish it on anyone else, not even my worst enemy. I have nothing but sympathy for his relatives and friends who are grieving his death.

He was a political activist, not just a commentator.

It's not just woke liberals who support lgb (not t) rights and want 10yo rape victims to be able to get abortions

It's not just woke liberals who think it's not v helpful to tell women they're past their prime at 30, when he married a 32yo (who seems lovely BTW, poor woman to have this tragedy happen, 2 small kids too) and that the pill automatically makes you crazy.

I would guess it’s certainly a deterrent for someone intending to break into someone’s home if the owner is likely to have a gun. Here in the UK we’re like sitting ducks. Unable to defend ourselves if the defence involves using excessive force against someone not armed. Not that we even know if they’re armed or not. I’m not advocating for gun ownership over here but I can see why people who have been used to having them as a form of protection would be reluctant to give them up.

You are not denying that your message is ‘serves him right’
You are revolting.

I had very little respect for the man's views but we need to remember he was a man. A son, a husband, a father.

People may not have like his words but being flippant or celebratory about a violent death, particularly one in front of his wife and children, is just so callous.

I do hope there aren't any retaliatory attacks on prominent left-wing figures in the wake of this.

I was glad to see the likes of Biden, Harris & Newsom speaking out against the incident.

We need to keep our humanity.

Most religious people who are anti abortion do support rape exemptions

Do you believe that '10yo rape victims should not be allowed an abortion' is NOT a radical viewpoint?

If that's really true about the US,I thank God I was born in Britain.

Of course, by why about Charlie Kirk specifically? You say that you think all deaths are a tragedy, but 30,000+ US citizens are murdered with guns EVERY SINGLE YEAR so why have you never started a thread about it before? Why is the shooting of this US citizen any more or less heinous than the murder of any other US citizen?