I’M devastated by the news of Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
What kind of monster believes a father of two young children deserves to die simply because they disagree with some of the things he has to say?
Kirk was a devoted dad of a three-year-old daughter and 16-month-old son
Toby Young is founder and director of the Free Speech Union
Almost as shocking has been the discovery that not everyone shares my horror.
On the contrary, social media is awash with left-wing activists celebrating .
In the small hours of Wednesday morning I found myself engaging with one of them, and tried to find the words to persuade her that the assassination of any political figure, no matter how passionately you disagree with them, is .
Like many on the far left, she believed he deserved to die because his views about trans people were harmful.
I told her the problem with justifying ’s murder on the grounds that his words caused real world harm is that the same argument could be used by people on the other side of the culture war to justify the murder of their political opponents.
For instance, they could justify the murder of trans rights activists on the grounds that gender identity ideology has led to harmful, irreversible medical procedures inflicted on gender-confused children.
Both sides in political debates need to observe the rule that the battle stops with words.
We can be as unpleasant towards each other as we like in the political arena, but if we go beyond that and start engaging in violence, society will descend into civil war.
That rule has to be sacrosanct if democratic societies are to survive.
We need to remember Voltaire’s maxim: I may disagree profoundly with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
Timeline of Charlie Kirk shooting
Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was shot in the neck while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University on September 10.
12 pm MDT– Kirk is scheduled to host a debate in the UVU Fountain Courtyard.
12:10 pm – A shot is fired at Kirk from 200 yards away and hits him in the neck. The event is immediately evacuated and a man is taken into custody.
1:02 pm – President Donald Trump posts a call to pray for Kirk on Truth Social.
1:37 pm – UVU closes campus, cancels classes, and tells students to leave campus immediately.
1:50 pm – Officials confirm Kirk is in critical condition to the Associated Press.
2:40 pm – Trump confirms Kirk has died, hailing him “great, legendary” in a post on Truth Social.
4:21 pm FBI Director Kash Patel shares on X that the ‘subject for the horrific shooting’ is in custody.
4:30 pm – Utah Governor Spencer Cox, speaking at a press conference, brands Kirk’s death a ‘political assassination. Cox adds there is a ‘person of interest’ in custody and a man arrested earlier has been released.
US President Donald Trump condemned the murder 
