Erika Kirk has offered up what some folks will undoubtably consider a controversial take on our right to keep and bear arms: she still supports the Second Amendment after her husband’s assassination.
We’re so used to the media elevating the voices of victims of violence and their loved ones who embrace and advocate for more gun control that it’s easy to forget (or never acknowledge in the first place) that not everyone who suffers the loss of a spouse, child, sibling, or friend to a murderer believe that guns are the problem or that gun control is the answer. Kirk’s eloquent response to Andrew Ross Sorkin (who’s certainly no friend to the Second Amendment) at a New York Times conference this week may have opened some eyes, as well as raised some eyebrows on the left.
“I wouldn’t wish upon anyone what I have been through, and I support the Second Amendment as well,” Kirk told host Andrew Ross Sorkin.
She pointed to multiple factors that she believes spur shootings in the U.S., including poor mental health, anxiety, and depression — particularly among young Americans. Kirk said her husband felt the same way.
“What I’ve realized through all of this is that you can have individuals that will always resort to violence. And what I’m afraid of is that we are living in a day and age where they think violence is the solution to them not wanting to hear a different point of view,” she said.
Kirk continued, “That’s not a gun problem, that’s a human — deeply human — problem. That is a soul problem, that is a mental [problem], that is a very deeper issue.”
Kirk is absolutely correct. We’re talking about individuals who are willing to kill someone because they disagree with them or want to silence their voice. That’s not a gun issue. Is it a mental health issue? Sure, at least in some cases, but I think Kirk was closer to the target when she called it a “soul” problem.
I’ve been involved in the fight for our right to keep and bear arms for over two decades, and I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve heard dehumanizing rhetoric directed at me or fellow 2A advocates. We’re accused of being monsters who care more about our guns than our kids, mindless puppets of the gun lobby, or even potential killers ourselves.
This type of rhetoric, which can be found around every hot-button issue (and often coming from advocates on both sides of that issue), can have a real impact. It helps us see ideological opponents as existential enemies who deserve no respect, even at the most basic level. When those enemies have been demonized to the point that some folks can’t or won’t even acknowledge their humanity, it’s not difficult for some twisted souls to believe that they’re eradicating an evil when instead they’re committing a cold-blooded and pre-meditated act of murder.
The vast majority of us will never fall into that trap, but it was deeply disturbing to see the flippant response to Kirk’s killing by some on the left. It’s also been chilling to see someone like Luigi Mangione turned into a folk hero on the left after he was arrested for the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. No matter what you think of our healthcare system, Thompson’s murder accomplished absolutely nothing that will improve it. A wife lost her husband, kids lost their dad, but Thompson’s assassination didn’t lead to any fundamental changes in the health insurance industry, any more than Martin Luther King’s assassination derailed the civil rights movement or Charlie Kirk’s assassination crippled conservatism.
If anything, Erika Kirk’s comments understate the problem. It’s not just that we are living in a day and age where some people think violence is the solution to them not wanting to hear a different point of view, but that these individuals will be lionized by a sizable portion of our fellow citizens if and when they act on their murderous impulses. That too is a soul problem.
I don’t have the answer to address this sickness of the soul, but I’m glad to see that Erika Kirk not only refuses to succumb to it herself but is continuing to use her voice and platform to identify the problem and call on others to reject it as well.
Editor’s Note: 2A advocates across the country are doing everything they can to protect our Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense.
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