Erika Kirk, the CEO of Turning Point USA and widow of conservative icon Charlie Kirk, soundly rejected the liberal argument that gun violence was the root cause of her husband’s assassination. She instead pointed the blame at a deep moral and psychological failure in society.
Kirk made the powerful comments in a coveted closing spot at The New York Times DealBook Summit with journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin. Sorkin asked her how she felt about gun violence in America “given what happened to him.”
Kirk responded with elegance and precision. “It’s a thoughtful question,” she said, adding, “I support the Second Amendment as well. I do. But there’s a bigger and much deeper conversation to all of that.”
She confirmed that the real problem is a crisis of meaning and mental health in young people. College counselors always tell TPUSA that students’ top issues are “mental health, anxiety [and] depression.”
Kirk emphasized that her late husband understood the core issue. She said, “And what Charlie knew, and he was trying to explain to students on campus, was that you have to understand that brain health is so important.”
The violence, she argued, comes from a deeper spiritual void. Kirk said, “What I’ve realized through all of this is that you can have individuals that will always resort to violence.”
She said the problem is a cultural sickness where violence is accepted as a political tool. Kirk added, “That’s not a gun problem. That’s a human, deeply human problem. That is a soul problem. That is a mental — that is a very deeper issue.”
Kirk also revealed that she had intentionally removed social media from her phone after the murder to maintain her health. She confirmed that “Social media, like many things, it can be used for such good. And it can be used for such evil.”
She said she is now protecting her mind from the daily torrent of hate. Kirk confirmed, “I took it all off my phone. I don’t even have news apps on my phone. I have nothing on my phone.”
She said the hate she receives online pales in comparison to her grief. Kirk said, “When you cast the bloody dead body of the person that you love, it pales in comparison to being called x, y, z.”
She also recalled that her husband always prioritized time away from the “chatter.” Kirk said that on Friday night, he would turn off his phone and “shove it in the junk drawer” to honor the Sabbath.
He would say, “Shabbat Shalom,” and then enter “full Dad mode.” She said he was able to “breathe and to rest and get away from the chatter” and realize that life is bigger than the political fight.