Charlie Kirk’s killing: Political violence, guns and the fight for cohesion in US

The assassination of well-known conservative commentator, Charlie Kirk on September 10 has exposed significant fault-lines in American public life. Three issues are of particular concern. First, political violence in the US is at dangerous levels. Second, the country is awash in guns which is a recipe for disaster. Third, there are too few places in media and politics where reasonable debate is being carried out to bring Americans together.

Ever since losing the presidential election to Joe Biden in November 2020, Trump has been busy ramping up political rhetoric. His refusal to peacefully hand over power in January 2021 led to the storming of the Congress by a violent mob who attacked police officers and threatened to kill members of Congress. One of the first acts of Trump on assuming office in January 2025 was to issue presidential pardons to over 1,500 violent rioters convicted for attacking Congress in 2021.

Unsurprisingly, even before the identity of Charlie Kirk’s assassin was revealed, Trump’s instinctive reaction was not to appeal for calm but to blame in his own words, ‘radical left lunatics.’ Charlie Kirk’s active campaigning with young people in the American hinterland during the 2024 elections, was a key factor in propelling Trump and the Republican Party to the White House. Kirk was an avid supporter of Trump who publicly mourned his passing by ordering American flags to be lowered at half-staff across the country.

The easy availability of guns is a likely contributor to the surge in political violence. In June this year, a lone gunman killed Democratic Party Minnesota lawmaker, Mellissa Hortman and her husband at their home. Trump himself survived two assassination attempts by lone gunmen during his election campaign last year. In each of these incidents, attackers were able to get access to high powered rifles.

Sadly, the US is facing an epidemic of gun violence with little movement on curtailing the widespread availability of lethal weapons across the country. This is in large part due to the tight hold the National Rifle Association, a pro-gun rights group, has on the Republican Party.

Ironically, Charlie Kirk himself said the cost of a few gun deaths was worth it to protect gun ownership rights in the country. But the number of the gun deaths in the United States are not insignificant. According to government statistics, between 40,000-50,000 people die of gun related injuries in the United States every year. Of these, a considerable proportion are suicide related deaths. But the most horrific outcome of all due to the easy availability of guns is mass shootings in schools and college campuses. According to the CNN news network, there have been 47 shootings in educational institutions in the US in 2025 alone. Just last week, a high school student in Colorado shot two classmates before turning the gun on himself.

Building national consensus on dealing with crises such as gun violence is becoming harder amid rising polarization. In the Trump era, hyper partisan news channels, podcasts and online sites such as Fox News, Ben Shapiro show and Breitbart news are pushing impressionable people into extremist political corners, retreat from which is going to be very hard.

Furthermore, government policies are directly responsible for divisiveness in society. Trump Administration’s signature ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act’ which no Democrat law maker voted for was passed in July 2025. It drastically cuts funding  for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting which supports independent radio, television and online news channels committed to fact-based reporting. Civil society groups and academic institutions that contribute to social cohesion and protection of the rights of minority disadvantaged groups have been similarly defunded.

Currently, efforts are underway by Trump’s supporters to edify Charlie Kirk’s legacy by projecting him as an American hero notwithstanding his disparaging comments about feminists, Black Americans, Trans-people, immigrants, Islam, and liberals seeking equality in society. As contentious debates in rage in American society about the life and impact of Kirk, it’s clear that more people are needed in American public life who are willing to speak the truth and celebrate diversity as the country’s greatest strength and the reason for its ascendance. One such individual is Bernie Sanders, independent senator from the state of Vermont, who is also the longest serving independent Member of Congress in American history.

Bernie Sanders came out immediately after Kirk’s death to condemn political violence. He said, “A free and democratic society, which is what America is supposed to be about, depends on the basic premise that people can speak out, organize and take part in public life without fear – without worrying that they may be killed, injured or humiliated for expressing their political views.”

Let’s hope Sanders’ vision prevails.

(Mandeep S Tiwana is a human rights lawyer currently serving as Secretary General of CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance. He is currently based in New York.)