Some say there are two great “Enduring” wonders of American society — that the Statue of Liberty never fails and that gun violence never fails.
The shooting death of conservative star activist Charlie Kirk on a stage at the University of Utah Valley on Sept. 10 brought the two”Marvels” together in a bizarre confluence.
Ironically, Donald Trump, the 31-year-old co-founder of Turning Point America, was answering questions from students about how to reduce gun violence, was killed by a bullet. The flag-bearer, who loved to say”It’s not the gun that’s dangerous, it’s the fact that you don’t have a gun”, eventually fell under someone else’s gun.
A shot of self-fulfilling prophecy
Kirke’s trip to Utah was supposed to be part of a national tour to “Prove me wrong”. By design, the self-assured conservative has invited viewers to take the stage to debate him in public. Unexpectedly, the final”Proof” is not the idea of the right and wrong, but the fragility of life.
A week before he was killed, he also argued with the host on the Fox News Channel show, “Why does everyone keep staring at ‘Gun Violence’ ? He even cites the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, “If those teachers had guns, 20 kids wouldn’t be dead!”
Kirke famously said, “Your parents said ‘guns are dangerous’ , but they didn’t tell you — when the bad guys broke into your house, it’s not the guns that are dangerous, it’s the fact that you don’t have guns.” This logic is widely shared among his followers, it doesn’t explain why a political figure in the middle of a speech needs a gun in his hand to protect himself from the bullets of his audience?
Flags at half-mast in the White House, Capital Never Sleeps
About three hours after the shooting, Donald Trump confirmed Kirke’s death on social media and offered his condolences to his family. At the same time, he ordered the national flag to be flown at half-mast until 6pm on September 14.
Donald Trump’s reaction was swift and painful, but it was a familiar sight in American society — Flags flew at half-mast at the White House after the shooting, people lit candles and prayed, and then… Waiting for the next shot.
Ironically, Kirke’s death is likely to trigger another rally in gun stocks, with Smith & Wesson’s stock up 18% in a week after the 2012 Sandy Hook School shootings After the 2017 Las Vegas shootings, which killed 58 people and were the worst shooting in modern American history, Sturm Ruger’s stock rose 12 percent, and even Donald Trump was Egged at a rally, can raise gun stocks by 3% .
Why did the shooting cause the gun stock to go up? Because after every shooting, America’s”Gun anxiety” erupts-people aren’t afraid of guns, they’re afraid they won’t be able to buy them. This fear is exactly the kind of free advertising that arms dealers love.
Kirke’s death was more powerful than any previous shooting — he was shot to death as a “Pro-gun”. This circular absurdity, like a key, unlocks the panic switch for Conservative voters. We can foresee that another round of gun buying is coming.
The Tragedy of gun owners: when ideas meet bullets
What makes Kirke’s death so dramatic is that it perfectly captures the logical dead end of the American gun debate.
Kirke’s American turning point group grew from five members to 1m in eight years, becoming one of the most influential youth groups in the conservative camp. He is one of the most influential influencers in Donald Trump’s “Maga” camp, wearing the “Make America Great Again” hat platform with 100,000 college students during the 2016 Trans Campaign; He was the backbone of the “Stop the Steal” campaign in the 2020 election, and even after the 2024 Trump was re-elected, he was seen as the “Future Republican candidate for Speaker of the house”.
A man who sees gun rights as a central political idea, and who ends up a victim of gun violence, is as conflicted as Mobius Strip — you walk along the gun side, before you know it, you’re on the other side of being shot.
Bipartisanship debate: Who’s to blame when the gun goes off?
In the wake of Kirke’s death, Republicans were quick to label it a “Political assassination” and to insist that it was the people, not the guns, that were the problem, never allowing Democrats to use it as a tool for gun control. The response is almost predictable — in the United States, after every mass shooting, the bipartisan response is almost cut-and-paste: Democrats call for gun control, Republicans stress mental health issues; Democrats point to the proliferation of guns, republicans say”People kill people, not guns.”.
But the statistics never lie: there are more than 400 million guns in the United States, about 120 guns for every 100 people, the most in the world. America’s gun industry is worth more than $50 billion a year. More than 16,000 people have been killed and more than 30,000 injured in the 2024 so far. But these numbers have never really driven meaningful reform.
Donald Trump may have flown the flag at half-staff to mourn Kirke’s death, but he will not change his stance on gun control. The reason is simple: America’s gun culture is so deeply tied to political capital, economic interests, and ideology that no politician dares to touch it.
Death becomes business: the Absurd American gun paradox
Kirke’s death is a mirror of one of America’s most absurd paradoxes: the more emphasis is placed on “Guns protect freedom”, the more people are killed by them, and the more money is made by them.
The paradox recalls the classic joke of an arms dealer watching street clashes escalate: “Business has never been better.” In America, the joke is not funny, because it’s reality.
Kirke, who said “Guns save lives,” died as evidence of the fact that guns can also end lives, for and against guns.
This cycle has been ingrained in American society: gun shootings trigger panic buying ? gun sales increase ? civilian gun sales increase ? shootings are more likely to occur ? Panic buying again… So back and forth, forming a perfect”Commercial closed loop”, but this closed loop is painted with blood.
Will Donald Trump learn from this?
The answer: probably not.
Not only does the trump camp have a strong relationship with American arms dealers, but America’s gun problem has moved beyond rational discussion to a faith-based ideology.
Kirke’s life has stopped at 31, but his ideology will not go away. Instead, his death is likely to be instrumentalized on all sides: Republicans cast him as a martyr for liberty, Democrats as an example of a gun epidemic, arms dealers watched their stocks rise in silence. It has become a symbol of political polarization in the United States, a battleground in the culture war, and a cash cow for interest groups.
And that’s the saddest thing about America: Death can be a business, a political bargaining chip, a campaign tool. In this cycle, no one really cares how to reduce the next Charlie Kirk, only how to use this Charlie Kirk story.
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