The assassination of Charlie Kirk is a reminder of the imminent threat that having so many guns in our society poses to all of us on a daily basis.
Not only to us, but even more so to our freedom and our democracy.
No matter how much I or you completely disagreed with Charlie, violence like this is not the answer. In a democracy, disagreements are addressed at the ballot box, not with bullets.
We are living in an incredibly divided and dangerous time in our nation's history. While we may not know what will bring us out of this dark moment, if history teaches us anything, it's that countries are never brought together through inflicting violence on our fellow citizens.
I know Charlie's family, children, friends, and loved ones are grief-stricken at this moment. There are too many Americans who know that grief all too well. Too many parents who dropped their kids off at school, and never got to take them home. Too many people who've lost their friends to gun violence. Over the years, I have seen that grief on the faces of parents whose children never made it to graduation, widowed fiances who never made it down the aisle, and new Americans whose American dream turned into a nightmare. That grief knows no political bounds, and I do not wish it on anyone, no matter my political disagreements with them.
I hope that we use our collective grief, be it mourning Charlie or mourning the almost 50,000 Americans we lose each year to gun-related deaths, to do something. Even if that action is small, it could save one life — a life that is an entire world to their loved ones. If we continue to divide, people will continue to die. I will not stand for that. I believe we can change course. We can live in a country where we are free from the grief of gun deaths and free from the fear that at any moment you or someone you know could be killed.
With compassion and resolve,
David
