Within minutes of the fatal shooting of the 31-year-old conservative commentator and MAGA activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University on September 10, graphic videos of Kirk’s death began circulating on social media sites; within hours, these videos had accumulated millions of views. Keeping in line with current trends, traditional news outlets, which deliberate over showing violent images in their coverage and more often than not decide not to, have taken a backseat, while the internet covers Kirk’s death and, in part, shapes the aftermath of what is covered.

It appears that older generations have had a somewhat unified response to Kirk’s death, regardless of their political leaning. With conservative and right-aligned older Americans expressing their admiration for Kirk’s traditional values and criticism of “woke” ideology among Gen-Z, believing that the murder of Kirk was an act of hatred stemming from the influence of extreme leftism, and that disagreeing with Kirk is fair, but that individuals should be allowed to speak freely without fear of retaliation.

Liberal and left-aligned older Americans who opposed Kirk’s beliefs, citing past inflammatory rhetoric against women, marginalized communities, and academics, argue that language is not comparable to acts of violence, and that all speech, regardless of its extremity, is protected by the First Amendment.

Former President Barack Obama called Kirk’s death “horrific” and said at an event at the Jefferson Educational Society in Erie, “I didn’t know Charlie Kirk. I was generally aware of some of his ideas. I think those ideas were wrong, but that doesn’t negate the fact that what happened was a tragedy and that I mourn for him and his family.”

California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom issued a statement, the first section of which reads, “We should all feel a deep sense of grief and outrage at the terrible violence that took place in Utah today. Charlie Kirk’s murder is sick and reprehensible, and our thoughts are with his family, children, and loved ones.”

On September 19, the House of Representatives passed a resolution honoring Charlie Kirk, with 95 Democrats voting in favor of the resolution and 58 opposing it, including Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

However, Gen-Z has had a far more polarizing response to Kirk’s death. Kirk and his political organization, Turning Point America, undoubtedly had a substantial influence on members of Gen Z who harbor mistrust of the government and political leaders, particularly Democratic ones, and struggle to relate to contemporary progressivism. By going to colleges and universities and setting up a table with a “prove me wrong” poster, Kirk typically attracted a large crowd of student onlookers, some protesters, some debaters, but mostly supporters of Kirk and the Trump Administration, sporting MAGA hats and applauding his political points against his opponents, often intertwining the Christian faith and Biblical passages.

Kirk founded the non-profit organization Turning Point USA in 2012 at the age of 18, gaining popularity during the 2016 election after vocalizing his support for Donald Trump’s presidency. His rise in popularity over the years, especially among young men, contributed to Gen-Z’s shift to the right in the 2024 election.

At the time of his death, the Instagram page for his organization had amassed over 6 million followers. One of Kirk’s supporters, 22-year-old Alex Shepard, spoke to NPR, “He was someone I looked up to because I couldn’t do what he did. I don’t have the patience to go and talk to so many people that I disagree with on that scale. I just loved what he did, and I love him for it.”

Isabel Brown, a 28-year-old conservative content maker, shared a video with her social media followers expressing her grief, “Over the coming hours, days, weeks, months, and years, we all will face the insurmountable, painful question that I’m asking myself repeatedly today, what the hell do we do now? Where do we go from here?”

Yet, many other members of Gen-Z have pushed back against the sentiment held by conservatives that Kirk’s legacy is worth honoring, arguing that his speech was inherently violent and sowed further division among young people, that Kirk had no intent to open up dialogue with young leftists, but instead relied on logical fallacies, such as red herring, to “win” debates.

A comment Kirk made about gun control in 2023 resurfaced on social media: “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.”

In her piece titled “Millions of Gen Z’ers Don’t ‘Feel Bad’ About Charlie Kirk’s Murder. Here’s Why,” Kahlil Greene writes, “The irony was too stark to ignore: a man who spent his career vociferously opposing gun control was killed by a single gunshot. For a generation raised on lockdown drills, active shooter alerts, and horrific instances of school shootings, the silence from many of Kirk’s supporters on this topic felt deafening. That is, until it was their own.” Greene follows this by referencing a TikTok video uploaded by the daughter of a Sandy Hook school shooting survivor sharing her frustration with the uproar about Kirk’s death from Republicans, but the failure to acknowledge the sharp increase in school shootings over the past few years.

Pointing out the long lasting trauma survivors and their families endure, Greene says, “I feel bad that I don’t feel bad” and “maybe now that Republicans are starting to realize that the unfortunate gun deaths that happen every year to protect our Second Amendment are gonna be them, maybe now things will change. If they don’t, thoughts and prayers.”

Many social media users have echoed this sentiment, with one Reddit user writing, “Kirk died promoting the things that got him killed. Thoughts and prayers, since that’s the only action taken in the states.”

The deep polarization among Gen Z’s responses to Kirk’s death is part of an overwhelmingly ubiquitous mood of disillusionment, pessimism, and trepidation about the future of America.