Annlinn Kruger

Carrie Jones

Sep 14, 2025

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Violence With Guns Is Scourge of Society

Our nation is saturated with guns. Not surprisingly, gun violence is a scourge of our society. It is often the young who are the victims and perpetrators. Kyle Rittenhouse was 17 when he shot and killed two Black Lives Matter protestors ages 26 and 36. Tyler Robinson, the accused shooter and killer of 31 year old Charlie Kirk, is 22.

Conservative activist Kirk died answering a question about mass shootings and gun violence. Kirk had previously said, “I think it’s worth it 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.” And in fact, Kirk celebrated Kyle Rittenhouse—who appeared with Kirk at Turning Point rallies and on the Charlie Kirk Show—as “a hero to millions.” Republicans are casting Tyler Robinson in a different light. Deflecting attention away from the fact of gun violence and towards the anti-fascist messages on the bullet casings.

In response to Kirk’s death, our president said, “We have radical left lunatics out there and we just have to beat the hell out of them.” If one of us has a target put on their back, any of us has a target on our back. As Charlie Kirk’s tragic death demonstrates. In life, Kirk famously challenged people to prove him wrong. His death proves that accepting the relatively recent notion that the Constitution necessitates accepting gun violence as worth it, prudent, and rational—is wrong. And it is a bad deal to promote and pardon violence. Especially when guns are so easily at hand.

Annlinn Kruger

Bar Harbor