Charlie Kirk, who was well-known Donald Trump supporter, was fatally shot dead on Tuesday, September 10. The prime suspect a 25-year-old suspect fired at Turning Point USA founder while he was addressing the public at Utah Valley University in Orem.
At the time of the deadly attack, the 31-year-old was answering a question about gun violence. This daylight murder of the right-wing political activist sparked interest on his opinions on gun violence, women, LGBTQ and religion.
What were Charlie Kirk’s views on gun violence?
The controversial figure who often landed in hot soup for his comments was a proponent of US president Donald Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ movement.
Charlie Kirk often rejected calls for gun control and pivoted the conversation around mass shootings to “mental health” or broader cultural decline.
Emphasising the need to protect Second Amendment rights which grants individuals the right to keep and bear arms for self-defence, Charlie Kirk said, “I think 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. That is a prudent deal. It is rational. Nobody talks like this. They live in a complete alternate universe.” He made these remarks after the deadly shooting at the Christian Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, in April 2023.
“You will never live in a society when you have an armed citizenry and you won’t have a single gun death,” the conservative activist said, adding, “That is nonsense. It’s drivel. But I am—I think it’s worth it.”
What were Charlie Kirk’s views on women?
According to several of Charlie Kirk’s statements, women should prioritise motherhood over careers. Criticising birth control, he said that it makes women “angry and bitter” and that females over 30 “aren’t attractive in the dating pool.”
Comparing abortion to the Holocaust, the MAGA supporter said, ““We allow the massacre of a million and a half babies a year under the guise of women’s reproductive health. We are allowing babies to be taken away and discarded every single year, just saying they are not humans.”
Condemning abortion, he added, “It is never right to justify the mass termination of people under the guise of saying that they are unwanted. That’s how we get Auschwitz, that’s how we got the greatest horror of the 20th century,” in an old video that surfaced recently.
Few days before his death, he discussed family, faith and the choices that young women in America make. “Having children is more important than having a good career,” Charlie Kirk said during his interview with host Laura Ingraham which aired on FOX News’ “Ingraham Angle” on September 8.
He was labelled as misogynistic who believed that women should focus more on families than their jobs which he linked with lower marriage and birth rates in the West. “And I would also tell young ladies, you can always go back to your career later, that there is a window where you primarily should pursue marriage and having children, and that is a beautiful thing,” USA Today reported.
What were Charlie Kirk’s views on LGBTQ community?
A prominent anti-LGBTQ activist, Charlie Kirk’s statement targeting transgender Americans revealed his opposition to LGBTQ rights and policies. Condemning LGBTQ-inclusive education, he said that Democrats want a society “where there is no cultural identity”. He described progressive measures on gender and sexuality as “sexual anarchy.”
What were Charlie Kirk’s views on religion?
Charlie Kirk initially supported a “secular worldview” but on his podcast in 2022 he reversed his stance. “There is no separation of church and state,” Charlie Kirk said supporting the involvement of religion in politics. He added, “It’s a fabrication. It’s a fiction. It’s not in the Constitution. It’s made up by secular humanists.”