Gunshot Follows Question to Kirk on Transgender Mass Shooters
The crowd reacts after Charlie Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, was shot at the Utah Valley University on Wednesday in Orem, Utah. (Tess Crowley/The Deseret News via AP)
During a campus event in Utah on Wednesday, conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was asked a series of politically charged questions before a gunshot rang out, according to former Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who spoke to Fox News. The first audience question focused on religion. The second, Chaffetz said, was about transgender individuals and mass shootings — and just as that exchange ended, a gunshot was heard.
As reported by The Wall Street Journal, a student in the audience asked Kirk whether he knew how many transgender Americans had committed mass shootings over the past decade. Kirk responded, “Too many.” The student replied that the number was five, then followed up by asking how many mass shootings had occurred overall in the U.S. in the same time period. Kirk answered with a question of his own: “Counting or not counting gang violence?” Moments later, the sound of a gunshot interrupted the event, according to video footage.
Kirk has previously addressed the topic, including after a recent shooting at a Christian school in Minneapolis. He has also publicly supported the idea of banning firearm ownership for transgender individuals — a policy the Justice Department is reportedly considering.
However, data consistently shows that transgender people — who make up less than 2% of the U.S. population — are significantly more likely to be victims of violent crime than perpetrators, People magazine noted.
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