I Shouldn’t Be Scared When I Speak Up About My Opinions, and Neither Should You
Article by: Michelle Yap / Graphic by: Kailyn Mai
On September 10th, 2025, Charlie Kirk was shot and killed for openly speaking about his political beliefs. He was just about to start his first event on his American Comeback Tour at Utah Valley University when a shot was fired straight at his neck. I had just gotten to my lunch table when my friend told me about the news, and by the time I opened my phone to look it up, one of my group chats had already sent a video of the attack. I looked at it, knowing that I wouldn’t be disturbed by it objectively. I had to watch the video at least a couple of times before I noticed the gushing of blood flowing out of his neck after he got shot. I guessed that it hit his carotid, and that he would lose way too much blood way too quickly. The announcement of his death hadn’t been released yet, but I just knew that he wouldn’t make it. An hour and a half later, I found out that he had passed.
For the record, I did not agree with the vast majority of what Kirk spoke about throughout his short life. I routinely discussed this with many of my friends, and I did not agree with Kirk’s political and ideological standpoints or his debate style. I firmly believe that his platform, emphasis on platform, was built on hate and division. I think that the way he sought out opposing views to shut down prevented proper representation of the liberal side of politics. At the same time, his responses did not properly represent the conservative side of the spectrum.
That doesn’t take away the fact that he was a human.
No one should be targeted for speaking their opinion, regardless of political views. It scares me to think that anyone can get shot for speaking up about their views. It almost feels dystopian. In a country where one of our central pillars is freedom of speech, respect must come from the government and the people. That cannot happen if the universal mode of retaliation is to shoot, shut down, or silence the people that you disagree with. We must be a country of discussion and change, and violence not only prevents discussion; it also sparks a countless number of other obstacles towards legitimate progress. Shooting political individuals makes a statement, but what’s achieved by that statement?
This situation also reminded me of how quickly we passed over the assassinations of Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, and the shootings of Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette. Suppression doesn’t just come from the government; it can come from anyone. Kirk and Hortman, who were shot and killed, and Trump and Hoffman, who were shot but survived, shouldn’t have been targeted for taking the courage to go into the public sphere and fight for what they believed to be best for our nation. However, the imbalance in publicity when comparing all four of those events is what’s bothering me. Neither side should draw more attention to a situation when their own party is being affected; both sides should be able to set aside party politics when a human life is at stake. Disagreement should not have been and should never be an excuse to take a human life, nor should it be an excuse to condone acts of violence.
Gun violence has been an issue that I’ve spoken on countless times, and I hate how much it has become a political issue. It was never a matter of right versus left; it’s a matter of life or death. We’ve become so used to the countless shootings rampaging through our country that most of them don’t even make headlines anymore. Attending school and expressing my opinions are two of the things that take up the majority of my time. The fact that I can get shot for both of those is difficult for me to comprehend, and I’m sure it's just as scary for other people like me. The fact that politicians on both sides are being targeted for having different political beliefs should raise alarms everywhere.
It should not take the death of a prominent political figure to raise more discussions about firearms. It should not cost the lives of multiple children, adults, and U.S. citizens to raise flags on the harm that the lack of gun control has on our country. The Columbine High School shooting on April 20, 1999, occurred in the same district as the school shooting that occurred at Evergreen High School on September 10th, 2025, the same day as Kirk’s assassination. The Columbine shooting occurred more than 26 years ago. People believed that something would be done. But here we are, dealing with the plague of endless gun violence because of some odd obsession with the 2nd Amendment. What disturbs me even more is that we were so focused on the death of a prominent political influencer, all while giving a mere fraction of coverage to the children affected by gun violence, who were just going to school. According to Mass Shooting Tracker, in 2025 so far, there have been 436 mass shootings, averaging at about 1.39 mass shootings per day, with 498 killed and 1828 wounded. And those are just mass shootings, which only count scenarios in which four or more individuals have been shot. Imagine how many more gun deaths or injuries there are, considering incidents with three or fewer victims. I don’t see coverage of each one on the news, and it scares me how desensitized I have become to them.
The 2nd Amendment states: “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Over time, that interpretation has evolved into the right for individuals to own firearms for lawful purposes privately. Gun control does not infringe on the 2nd Amendment. Gun control does not mean “take away all of the guns and ban them completely”. It means ensuring that firearms are only placed in the hands of those responsible enough to manage them. Mandating extensive background checks, lessons, or courses does not infringe on the right to privately own a firearm; it just makes sure that an individual can be trusted to hold a tool that can kill someone in a second. Owning a gun is like driving a car — both are powerful tools that can quickly become deadly if misused. This is why regulations are necessary for a functional society. Gun legislation should exist in the same way that we’ve implemented restrictions on cars — we don’t ban cars, we require licenses, registration, and safety tests, but we’re also not afraid to remove the right for someone to drive a vehicle if deemed unable or untrustworthy to do so. It’s not about infringing on rights; it’s about protecting and ensuring the safety of the general American population.
I’ve never experienced a shooting, but I do have one experience that I believe is representative of the dangers of living this way. I was sitting for a school-wide assembly with a couple of friends and peers that I didn’t really talk to, when there was a loud thud coming from somewhere in the gym. We couldn’t see what was happening; we just heard the thud, and our hearts dropped. I was ready to run because the first thing that I thought was that a shooter had come in. Both of the kids sitting next to me instantly thought of the same thing. It was not even close to a shooting; someone had fainted at the sight of stitches being displayed on the projector. But the fact that my mind and the minds of others went straight to the unthinkable shows the constant fear that we’re living in. To make matters worse, that wasn’t the first time my mind went straight to the unthinkable when I heard a loud sound. One of the friends I was sitting next to also had a similar experience later that year. According to the SUNY Rockefeller Institute of Government, the majority of mass shootings occur in either the workplace or at schools, at 28% and 22% respectively. Americans should not be worried about being shot when they go to work or school every day. People should not be at risk of being shot when they go to their jobs to support their families. Students should not be risking their lives by going to school. I shouldn’t be risking my life for building my future, and I’m tired of even thinking that it could even be a possibility.
It disturbs me how many people spoke about Kirk’s death in comparison to how many people talked about the shootings of Hortman and Hoffman. To condemn one event and not the other is cruel. People cannot switch sides and speak out about specific situations only when it aligns with their political beliefs. You can’t condone the countless school shootings, gun deaths, and shootings of the Hortmans and the Hoffmans without condoning the shootings of Charlie Kirk, President Trump, and Brian Thompson, in the same way that you can’t condone the shootings of Charlie Kirk, President Trump, and Brian Thompson without condoning the countless school shootings gun deaths, and shootings of the Hortmans and the Hoffmans. This isn’t a matter of the “radical left” versus the “radical right,” it’s a matter of getting to the source of the issue and addressing the common denominator of it all: the lack of gun legislation. Issues shouldn’t be political when lives are at stake. Neither side should use human lives to promote their political agendas. Now is not the time to push political beliefs. We can’t discuss our political beliefs and grow if we are at risk of being killed for sharing them.
For the people celebrating Kirk’s death, just because he was insensitive doesn’t mean we have the right to treat him insensitively as well. Regardless of my sheer disgust for most of his statements, he was still a person. He still had a personal life; he still had a wife; he still had two kids. He spoke very openly about his political standpoints, and that, under no means, should’ve cost him his life. You cannot openly oppose gun violence, but celebrate it when it affects or kills people that you dislike. Gun violence is gun violence — end of story. There is no “It’s fine because he’s a Republican,” or “It doesn’t matter because she’s a Democrat,” or “Well, I disagreed with what they were saying and I believe that what they’re saying is dangerous”. Those are valid grounds for dislike and disagreement, but under no means should that be an excuse for violence. One shooting should never be more okay than another. If you want to have your freedom of speech without fear of being killed, then you have to respect the rights of other people to do that as well. If we’re turning to violence, what does that say about the future of our country? The promotion and celebration of Kirk’s killing only perpetuates the continuous acts of violence. We need to take this opportunity to come together and see the source of the issue for what it is.
Gun violence is a national issue. I’m tired of the constant politicization of this issue because it doesn’t just affect one group of people; it affects America as a whole. Lives are being lost because of guns. When used for violence, the gun doesn’t see the political views, ideological views, racial identity, or cultural background of its victims. It just shoots and kills. This is a matter of humanity. We cannot progress as a society if Americans are constantly shot for speaking out about their beliefs, for going to school, or for simply existing. We grow as a society when we hear from a multitude of different perspectives, but gun deaths take away those perspectives. It’s such a cowardly way to take someone out, but regardless of the cowardice of the attacker, a life is a life. An individual’s political affiliation or views should not determine whether you live or die. A life is a life, and there can’t be any more excuses. Gun violence affects everybody, and if you didn’t see it then, I hope you see it now.
Works Cited
Federal Bureau of Investigation. “Utah Valley Shooting Updates | Federal Bureau of Investigation.” Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2025, www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/utah-valley-shooting-updates.
Gun Violence Archive. “Mass Shootings in 2025 | Gun Violence Archive.” Gunviolencearchive.org, 2025, www.gunviolencearchive.org/reports/mass-shooting.
HPIS Staff. “Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman, Husband Killed in Attack - Session Daily - Minnesota House of Representatives.” Mn.gov, 2025, www.house.mn.gov/sessiondaily/Story/18843?
Kagawa, Rose, et al. “Effects of Comprehensive Background-Check Policies on Firearm Fatalities in 4 States.” American Journal of Epidemiology, vol. 192, no. 4, Jan. 2023, https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwac222.
Kekatos, Mary, and Camilla Alcini. “Charlie Kirk Shooting: A Visual Timeline of How It Unfolded.” ABC News, 12 Sept. 2025, abcnews.go.com/US/visual-timeline-charlie-kirk-shooting-unfolded/story?id=125478526.
Mass Shooting Tracker. “Mass Shootings in 2021.” Massshootingtracker.site, 2021, massshootingtracker.site/data/?year=2025.
McCourt, Alexander D., et al. “Purchaser Licensing, Point-of-Sale Background Check Laws, and Firearm Homicide and Suicide in 4 US States, 1985–2017.” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 110, no. 10, Oct. 2020, pp. 1546–52, https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2020.305822.
Schildkraut, Jaclyn, and Jaymi Elsass. “Mass Shooting Factsheet.” Rockefeller Institute of Government, 2025, rockinst.org/gun-violence/mass-shooting-factsheet/.
Schneid, Rebecca. “FBI Offers $50k Reward in Hunt for Man Suspected of Killing Minnesota Lawmaker and Her Husband.” TIME, Time, 14 June 2025, time.com/7294233/minnesota-lawmakers-melissa-hortman-husband-killed-john-hoffman-wife-shot/.
Siegel, Michael. “Universal Background Checks, Permit Requirements, and Firearm Homicide Rates.” JAMA Network Open, vol. 7, no. 8, American Medical Association, Aug. 2024, pp. e2425025–25, https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.25025.
Swanson, Stephen, et al. “Minnesota Rep. Hortman and Husband Killed, Sen. Hoffman and Wife Wounded in Politically Motivated Shootings, Gov. Walz Says.” Cbsnews.com, CBS Minnesota, 14 June 2025, www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/melissa-hortman-killed-john-hoffman-political-shootings/.
U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs. “After Two-Day Manhunt, Suspect Charged with Shooting Two Minnesota Lawmakers and Their Spouses.” Justice.gov, 16 June 2025, www.justice.gov/opa/pr/after-two-day-manhunt-suspect-charged-shooting-two-minnesota-lawmakers-and-their-spouses.
Zeoli, April M., et al. “Effectiveness of Firearm Restriction, Background Checks, and Licensing Laws in Reducing Gun Violence.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 704, no. 1, SAGE Publishing, Nov. 2022, pp. 118–36, https://doi.org/10.1177/00027162231165149.
