And yet, there was no discussion at all about gun rights or laws. Incredibly, on CBS’ Face the Nation, the words “gun” and “weapon” were not mentioned – not even once – during an hour of programming, a transcript showed. That’s an apt summary of the debate writ large. For all the hand-wringing about political violence, no one is talking about the reason anger, hate and violence in this country are so much more deadly than elsewhere.
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Utah, where Kirk was assassinated while speaking at a college campus, has some of the loosest gun laws in a country of loose gun laws. It’s legal for Utah residents over 21 to carry a gun – openly or concealed – without a permit. Indeed, just weeks ago, the state relaxed gun laws on college campuses.
Rather, we are told that social media is to blame. Utah governor Spencer Cox called it a cancer on society. Former transport secretary and potential Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, appearing on Meet the Press, spoke of young men spending too much time alone in dark rooms. Republican senator Lindsey Graham plugged a bill that would strip social media platforms of their shield against being sued over user-generated content, accusing tech companies of “radicalising our nation”.
This is not to discount the role social media plays in corroding public discourse, although politicians frequently use it as a scapegoat, including in Australia. But social media does not put guns on shelves or in people’s hands.
Naturally, we are all interested in the alleged killer’s motive. We want to know his background, his politics, and how he became “radicalised”. All of that is important to ascertain. But there is every chance that when you boil it down, he is just another nutter with a gun.
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We all have weirdos on the fringes of the political spectrum (just take a glance inside any political journalist’s inbox). Only the US routinely makes it easy for them to access dangerous weapons, and prizes those weapons in the culture.
Clearly, Kirk would not want his legacy to involve any backpedalling on gun rights. In 2023, he said gun deaths were unfortunately the price society had to pay to uphold the “God-given” right to bear arms. His conservative friends and allies were never likely to embrace gun reform, despite his tragic fate.
But it does appear the full picture is lost on them. President Donald Trump is presently on a crusade against violent crime in American cities. On Monday (Tuesday AEST), he announced the National Guard would now be sent to Memphis, replicating what he did in Washington. Chicago would be next, he said.
There have been 149 murders in Memphis so far this year, in a city of about 600,000, and about 70 per cent of violent crime in the city involves a gun. In 2023, Memphis had more than 390 homicides.
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“In Chicago, they’re getting beat to hell, they’re being shot,” Trump said. “If six or seven people die over a weekend, they consider that a successful weekend.”
The president is right about out-of-control gun crime in American cities. But it just shows that while the US might have a problem with political violence, first and foremost, it has a problem with violence.
It’s the guns, people.
