I didn't want to write this post!
I am both sickened and heartsick.
The assignation of Charlie Kirk yesterday was horrific,
and my heart goes out to his family and friends.
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The murder of Charlie Kirk yesterday was another tragic event
in a long list of political motivated attacks and killings in recent years.
People on the "left" and the "right" have been attacking and killing fellow Americans,
because they disagree with their political views and actions.
Political violence is wrong, period.
When is enough going to be enough to promote change?
Are we going to continue to spiral down into worse and worse violence,
or are we going start reaching out to those who think differently from us
in an attempt to better understand each other better and to find common ground?
Guns and violence cannot continue to be the answer.
Our country is broken, and we need to find a way to mend it.
Tear gas outside the United States Capitol on 6 January 2021
Mostly lost in the atrocious news of Charlie Kirk's death yesterday
was the news of yet another school shooting in Colorado.
A high school student at Evergreen High School shot two of his classmates
then turned the gun on himself.
The unidentified shooter died, and his two victims were hospitalized in critical condition.
One student has since been released, the other remains in critical condition.
When is enough going to be enough?
Columbine wasn't. Sandy Hook wasn't.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas wasn't. Uvalde wasn't.
I have written about school gun violence in the past. Friday, May 27, 2022
I almost wrote about it again, after the heartbreaking shooting
at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis on August 27, 2025.
As I see it, America loves its guns more than its children.
Actions speak louder than words.
A common denominator in political violence and school violence is guns.
These aren't the only kinds of gun violence.
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's
Center for Gun Violence Solution's
most recent report on gun violence in the US (2023) states:
"27,300 people died by firearm suicide, 17,927 died by firearm homicide, 463 died by unintentional gun injury, and an estimated 604 were fatally shot by law enforcement. In addition, an average of more than 200 Americans visit the emergency department for nonfatal firearm injuries each day." Source
When is enough going to be enough?
How many people have to die before we enact changes to our gun laws?
The October 1, 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas, with its 60 dead, 413 wounded,
and 394 injured in the gunfire-induced panic wasn't enough.
The Las Vegas Sign on The Strip, October 9, 2017,
covered in flowers in the wake of the 2017 Las Vegas Strip shooting.
Political violence, school shootings, and gun violence in our country
continue to shock and stun me.
Something has got to change!
We need to reach out and communicate with those who have different political views.
Not kill each other.
We need to address school shootings and find real solutions.
Not sit back and accept our children continuing to die.
We need to strengthen our patchwork quilt of state and federal gun laws
with some reasonable, research-based changes such as
universal background checks, waiting periods between buying and possessing guns,
firearms safety training, and secure gun storage.
Not wallow in the carnage and accept it as a way of life.
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I'm really discouraged right now.
Every time I think of Charlie Kirk, I literally feel nauseous
from the horror, the senselessness, and the loss of his young life.
And I feel heartsick for his wife and children.
I didn't agree with him politically, but I would have loved to have conversation with him.
No one should be murdered like that!
I feel almost hopeless over the continued school shootings
and the unending gun violence in our country.
But I haven't given up.
I'll regroup and continue to stand up and speak about my beliefs.
I have faith in our country.
We've gone through very dark periods in the past.
I believe we'll get through this difficult time too.
Have a good weekend everyone!
Till next time ~
Fundy Blue
Standing Into Danger https://selkiegrey4.blogspot.com
Copyright ©2025 – All rights reserved.
My next post will be
Friday, September 19, 2025 🤞
On the Bay of Fundy
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved
I totally agree with you here. I felt heartbroken when I heard about this young man being killed. His family did not deserve this, and it is a pity that they did not live somewhere else, in a loving area. God bless you for sharing this, I hope many things will change in your country.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Brenda! I hope for change too. It's lovely to hear from you!
DeleteWhat we need to do is address the real problem - why are there so many mentally unstable people out there? If we addressed the mental health crisis in this country, it would not only bring gun violence down but reduce homelessness and drug usage.
ReplyDeleteYou're absolutely right, Alex. We have a serious mental health problem in our country. I saw a turning point when California votes passed Proposition 13 in 1978. The bill lowered property taxes. One of the arguments by opponents was the effect it would have on mental health services: cuts in funding, closing of treatment facilities, and releasing of patients onto the streets. That is what happened, with an increasing rise in mentally ill homeless people. The trend spread throughout the country. Our young people are really in crisis, especially after the pandemic. So far, we talk about mental health care, but we're decreasing resources for it, not increasing them. I fought like crazy for my troubled students trying to get them the help they needed. It was exhausting and largely futile. Things won't change until we are willing to fund mentally health. We don't even want to fund health care for all of our people.
Delete...be reminded that Charlie Kirk, during an April 2023 event for Turning Point USA's faith division, stated that he believed a certain number of gun deaths was a worthwhile cost for preserving Second Amendment rights.
ReplyDeleteYes, Tom, I know about Kirk's statement, which is tragically ironic now. He also said many other things that I absolutely disagree with, but he didn't deserve to be murdered for them. We need to come together in the middle where many voters are and work for changes to help our people ~ through democratic processes and constitutionally-based efforts. You and I both lived through the turmoil of the 1960s, so we have experienced political assassinations and civil rights movements. We can right ourselves again.
Deletehorrific assassination
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, Christine! I've experienced too many assassinations during my lifetime. Wishing you the best, and happy weekend!
DeleteI'm so sad about the school shooting, lost in the headlines and the partisan hypocrisy (this isn't our first political assassination or attack, folks. It's a little different when the shoe is on the other foot.) And these kids -- barely mentioned. Yes, we have to talk. We have to stop the rhetoric. I don't see it happening.
ReplyDeleteI am discouraged, Jeanie, but I'm taking hope in leaders like Utah Gov. Spencer Cox who are trying to calm everyone down. I'm truly hoping (and praying) that this will be a turning point toward a better future for all of us in our country. The alternative is horrific.
DeleteSchool shootings really hit me in the gut. I've sheltered young kiddos when there was a real gun threat on our school grounds. I had 65 kiddos on a field trip when Columbine happened. I had no clue what was occurring and arrived back at school to find all of us locked out and it took a while to get my kiddos inside. Out school experienced a number of lockdowns, including when our principal's husband's nearby bank was robbed. He was the manager of the bank. My kiddos were traumatized by the Chuck E. Cheese massacre in our school neighborhood in 1993, a place they all went to. When JonBenét Patricia Ramsey was murdered, one of her good friends was a student in my classroom. I'd have taken a bullet to protect my students.
I have also experienced gun trauma myself. I've had ATF agents come to my home in California to ask me to get out of town because my life was being threatened by an angry friend of my first husband. He was going around to bars saying he was going to kill me, and a bar owner contacted ATF. ATF said they couldn't do anything unless he actually came after me with a gun, so could I please leave town. Within a week I went back to Newfoundland for a year. I've been held under gun point, convinced that I was going to be killed by a mentally ill Vietnam vet. I've been threatened with a gun in my face. A suicidal member of my family had to be talked out of killing himself with a gun more than once, so I'm hypersensitive to gun violence.
I have to believe we can stop the rhetoric. I have to believe things will get better.
Have a good weekend. I've said way too much, but it just came out. All the best to you! ❤️
I hate to sound like a conspiracy theorist but I just can't believe this wasn't some kind of undercover hit.
ReplyDeleteThe kid they allegedly arrested just doesn't look or act like the person who had 200 yard sharp shooting or could just jump off a roof and disappear.
Charlie Kirk was a terrible person, in and out, and I would prefer to be honest than sugarcoat it. But political violence is awful. And for the people who allegedly want it, it creates a martyr rather than silencing an opponent.
Thanks for your perspective, Adam! And yes, Kirk is quickly becoming a martyr. I'm really concerned about many things he stood for, but murder wasn't the answer. Thank you for continuing to be my blogging buddy! Enjoy your beautiful wife and family.
DeleteI agree with you, but I also agree with Nicole and Tom. This shooting was awful, but honestly, my heart bleeds way more for all those school shootings, especially when they are not more than a sidenote, like the one in Colorado. There are way too many guns in the US, laws around them are too lax and no one care about the mental health crisis, that feeds into the high number of shootings.
ReplyDeleteI don't have much hope. The fish stinks from the head down.
Hi, Carola! Thanks for sharing your perspective. It's disheartening to feel the lack of hope from everyone. But I'm going to hang on to it. Have a good weekend. Enjoy, and hug those you love! ❤️
DeleteSorry to be late visiting. I had a project that had to be sent on Friday and I put it off till the very last minute.
ReplyDeleteI believe in the 2nd Amendment, but I do NOT believe in gun violence. I believe in spending money on mental health, not the NRA. I believe in supporting schools that teach and practice non-violence. I also believe social media is partially responsible for the divide we feel in this country. Thanks for sharing your perspective, even if I can't be sad the guy is dead.
Hi, Elizabeth! I'm late replying. Saturday is always a busy day for me. I hope all went well with your project on Friday. Lately, I seem to be doing everything at the last minute.
DeleteI am not against the 2nd Amendment. I support responsible gun ownership. I grew up with guns in Canada. My father was a marksman and taught Army members and policemen to shoot. When I was four and five, I'd go to my ballet lesson and then join my father on the range ~ indoors and out. He taught me to shoot rifles, and I've fired everything from black powder rifles, to .357 Magnum revolvers, to Mossberg 500 shotguns, to Kalashnikov rifles, and lots in between. But when I experienced repeated trauma associated with guns, I eliminated them from my life.
As a 2nd and 3rd grade teacher, I spent a lot of time talking with students after violent events. Unfortunately my city of Aurora has had way more than its share. We, as a people, have to find a way back to the middle and to view each other as fellow Americans.
Wishing you an enjoyable rest of the weekend and an even better week!
When you got an orange clown with diaper rash going to what is left of his brain in charge, nothing is ever going to change. That and the gun lobbyists getting elected who they want with their millions so no one ever puts through new gun laws that cut into their profits. And then it seems the more vile the piece of crap that gets shot, the more the blame game gets played and that just riles both sides up even more. People need to stop being sheep and stop with the all or nothing approach to politics. You can be whatever you want and still admit when those elected are useless pieces of crap. And you can even agree with some things the "bad" side of the aisle do. That's how things get done. But as long as there is this us or them and nothing in-between approach, same old same old will keep happening. No one deserves to be killed for political views, no matter how nasty the crap is that come out of their yaps, but I've got way more sympathy for the poor kids who get the crappy end of the stick from the dumb adults making decisions than I do some of the dumb adults. If they aren't going to address guns and/or mental health a spiraling down the toilet things will continue to go, sadly.
ReplyDeleteYes, sadly, Pat. We have to address guns and mental health, and also the toxic and divisive side of social media. It's a tall order because these are complex issues. My hope is in knowing that there are many good, ordinary Americans who are working to make their communities, states, and country better. I'll admit, though, some days it's hard to keep my chin up. I hope all is well in your neck of the woods. I'm sad I didn't get to see you this summer. Take care!
DeleteI agree the main problem is mental health. Followed by hateful division. I am just stunned at the comments here stating Charlie was a horrible person. Just, wow. Really? A man who loved God and was just trying to have conversations with young people. And in this country, conversations need to happen more often!
ReplyDeleteHi, Diane! Thank you for sharing your perspective. Mental health is a huge problem for our country, and I especially worry about our young people who have been through so much in their short lives. Hateful division is also huge. The rhetoric on both sides is superheated, and social media is pouring gas on the flames. I wish leaders on both sides would follow Utah's Gov. Cox's example. I don't/didn't agree with Charlie Kirk on a number of issues, but he was someone who was willing to talk with people about those issues. And that was a good thing! We need much more of that! I made myself look at the video of his assassination on line, and it was horrific. I did this to imprint on my brain how awful and wrong political violence is. I don't want to forget it or gloss it over. Hopefully Charlie's faith will be a comfort to the people who loved him. I hope that this senseless tragedy isn't for nothing. I hope something positive can come from this. Have a good week, my friend! ❤️
DeleteDear Louise!
DeleteThis is sad and disappointing!
When I saw this news about assassination of Charlie I felt heartbroken because of his young age!
Killing is never an option for anyone no matter how severe the differences between people or parties are . The only way is when it comes to life threatening situations.
I fully completely agree with each and everything you said about banning gun use in society openly. The unfortunate reality is dark and shameful. People making weapon want to continue their job at any cost. And because they have friends and partners in parliamentary positions they will not let any such bill pass that can affect the sale of their products.
How ruthless and cruel it sounds!
Still I hope,wish and pray that God does some miracle and things get easier for common men!
Thinking of you my dear friend with heart full of love and prayers 🙏🥰♥️
I pray for peace every day, Baili! But my first prayer is aways one of gratitude, because I'm so grateful to have another day of life. You know I struggle with exactly who and what God is, and especially juxtaposed with the existence of evil. But my natural instinct is to pray. So, questions or no questions, I pray for peace, with gratitude, for my family and friends (like you).
DeleteLately I've been thinking a lot about the miracle of my existence, contingent on 13+ billion years of events happening. The odds of me being are impossible to calculate. I feel a deep reverence for life in all its forms. That's one reason why Charlie Kirk's murder hit me so hard, such a tragic loss of a young life. As you said, killing is never an option for people who disagree with the political views of others. So I really pray for all who are suffering so much in this world. And I continue to ask, why me? Why am I fortunate when so many suffer? Love to you and your family with a heart full of gratitude for having a special friend like you! ❤️