Charlie Kirk Once Defended Gun Deaths To Protect America's 2nd Amendment, Old Video Surfaces

Charlie Kirk, founder of the conservative political group Turning Point USA, was shot dead on Sept. 10. He was speaking at a Utah Valley University event in Orem, Utah. Kirk, 31, was a close ally of President Donald Trump and one of the most well-known conservative activists in the United States.

Following his death, Kirk’s previous comments against gun violence have come up again. According to The New York Times, he had said in a 2023 interview, “It’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.”

Watch the video here:

The Second Amendment of the US Constitution protects the right of the citizens to keep and bear arms.

At rallies and on his podcasts, Kirk used to regularly talk about gun control and other social and political issues. He engaged students and guests in debates about issues ranging from transgender identity and climate change to faith and family values.

According to the BBC, Kirk launched Turning Point USA when he was 18 years old. He established the non-profit organisation following the election of former US President Barack Obama in 2012. Kirk frequently included snippets of his conversations on various issues in his podcast and social media accounts.

The event at Utah Valley University, where he was killed, was supposed to be the beginning of a multi-campus Turning Point tour.

Following Trump’s victory, Kirk’s relationship with the President grew. According to the BBC, Kirk was also present at Trump’s January inauguration.

The shooting has drawn condemnation from various political figures. In a video message on Truth Social, Trump expressed condolences, saying he was “filled with grief and anger at the heinous assassination,” BBC reported.

In another post, Trump called Kirk “a truly Great American Patriot” and ordered all American flags across the US to be lowered to half-mast.

Former US President Joe Biden also condemned the killing.

According to the BBC, two people who were first detained in relation to the killing were later released when officials declared they had no ties to the shooting.

Kirk's death occurs amid a few high-profile murders that have become politicised by the media. The New York Times mentioned earlier incidents, such as the stabbing of a woman on a train in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the murder of a United Healthcare executive in Midtown Manhattan in December 2024.