Charlie Kirk shooting highlights rise in political violence in U.S.
Charlie Kirk shooting highlights rise in political violence in U.S.
The deadly shooting of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk Wednesday is highlighting the rise in politically-motivated violence.?
OAKLAND, Calif. - The deadly shooting of right-wing, conservative activist Charlie Kirk Wednesday is highlighting the rise in politically-motivated violence.
Big picture view:
"It just seems like it's happening more and more," said Menlo College political scientist Dr. Melissa Michelson. "It's bad for democracy. It increases polarization. It creates fear. It's terrible for everyone on both sides."
Recent instances of political violence
It comes three months to the week since Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband were shot dead inside their home in June. State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were shot and injured.
In April, a suspect set fire to the Pennsylvania governor's mansion while Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family were sleeping inside.
UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompason was fatally shot on the street in Manhattan in December 2024.
The 2024 campaign saw two assassination attempts on Pres. Donald Trump, including at a Pennsylvania rally, where Trump was injured and an audience member killed.
It's been nearly five years since Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The violence hit the Bay Area in 2022, when then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband was attacked with a hammer inside the couple's San Francisco home.
What they're saying:
"It's an indication of the degree to which people think political violence is the answer, that elected officials and their families can't feel safe in their homes," said Michelson.
What's fueling it?
"We're more apt to see people on the other side not just as adversaries or opponents but as enemies. And that makes the stakes so much higher," said St. Mary's College of California professor of politics Dr. Steve Woolpert. "The weapons are there, the temperature is hot, the sense of unity and togetherness of America is weak. So there are a lot of things going on."
Is it the 1960s all over again?
For some, it harkens back to the 1960s, when Pres. John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy were all assassinated in less than five years.
"There was this episode, a kind of epidemic, and I thought we're not in that period, kind of period now, and I hope we're not entering one," said Woolpert.
What can be done?
"What we need to make this stop is for all political leaders and all social media folks, all the people with followings to say, ‘this is not acceptable’," said Michelson.
Woolpert says something we all can do is focus on what we have in common as Americans, rather than what divides us.
The Source: Interviews by KTVU reporter John Krinjak and prior reporting
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