By Adam Eisenberg 

Charlie Kirk was inflammatory. He was boisterous. He was known to purposely misconstrue arguments to make college students look like they didn’t know what they were talking about.  

 Charlie Kirk also got shot in the neck on stage at Utah Valley University’s Turning Point USA event, which led to his imminent death.  

 Kirk being a gun violence victim does not make him any less of an asshole, but it does open the door for a very important statement: This wasn’t okay. 

 Kirk’s assassination should never have happened. No matter how extreme someone’s views are, it’s never okay to attempt to take their life. Call them bigoted? Sure. Mock them on South Park? Absolutely. But shooting them? Unacceptable. There is no possible excuse for this intolerable behavior. 

 “Kirk wanted to end abortion rights!”  

 “Kirk wanted to deport my family!”  

 “Kirk wanted me to detransition!”  

 “Kirk was a threat to democracy!” 

 Those are all valid arguments for not liking him, but is it really democratic to ambush and shoot a man for publicly sharing his beliefs?  

 While details of Kirk’s murder are scant, it can be said his shooter is the highest degree of a coward. He essentially shut Kirk up so he didn’t have to watch Kirk debate an opinion that suggested his perspective may be wrong. 

 Well sure, you might think. But it’s different because Kirk was a fascist. 

 That might be true. But isn’t it also fascist to use lethal force to silence somebody?  

 What we have here is a slippery slope dilemma. The silencing starts with Kirk – someone who was, in fact, an inflammatory asshole – but where does it end? With Ben Shapiro? With Candace Owens? Are we just going to keep shooting people that we disagree with? 

 Part of me wants to say Kirk’s fate was a one-off — that it won’t get any worse, that no one else will be shot or silenced. I know it is not, though.  

 I’m a liberal. I believe in everything that Kirk found reprehensible. But I also wish Kirk’s family the deepest sympathies. I hope that his murderer is brought to justice. And I look forward to the day when opposing viewpoints are met with scrutiny instead of bullets.