By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Eastern Kansas Congressman Derek Schmidt hopes the country learns something in the wake of the tragic death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Kirk was shot and killed while taking questions from students at Utah Valley University September 10th.
Schmidt, a Republican, says he didn’t know Kirk personally, but had followed his work.
“Look, here’s the bottom line, we all say that we want people who are willing to sit down and debate with and try to persuade people who have a very different view from them. That’s the way our self-governing system is supposed to work and that’s what Charlie Kirk did,” Schmidt tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “Some people really didn’t like or they really did like it, but at the end of the day he went and sat down and debated with people who had a different world view and tried to persuade them and often did. And I think we ought to celebrate that. It’s the way the system is supposed to work.”
Suspect Tyler Robinson has been charged with aggravated murder and could face the death penalty.
Schmidt says this goes beyond the murder of one young man.
“So, when he was assassinated, when he was murdered, you know it was an assault not just on one young man, it was also an assault on the idea that we want this country to work in a non-violent way, where instead there’s a clash of ideas and not a clash of bullets,” according to Schmidt.
Schmidt hopes the country grows from this tragedy.
“I hope it’s been a wakeup call for a lot of people,” Schmidt says. “It’s always easier to sort of default to the name calling and the exaggeration. It’s harder to have a thoughtful discussion about issues you disagree on, but that’s what the country requires. It’s what the people expect. And I hope it’s what’s going to come out of this terrible, terrible crime.”