Burgess Owens, UT
Linked statement
“Charlie Kirk was killed one year ago in an act of political violence. I ask the House to join me in a moment of silence for him and his family.”
“Mr. Speaker, 1 year ago on September 10, 2025, the world witnessed a senseless act of political violence that took Charlie Kirk from us on a college campus in my home State of Utah. Charlie unashamedly believed in the promise of America. At age 18, he founded Turning Point USA, built, in its own words, to promote the principles of ``freedom, free markets, and limited government,’’ a movement of millions who love this country and its founding ideals. Charlie believed that we could become a more perfect Union through conversations and spirited debates. He believed that you beat bad ideas with better ideas, not by shouting them down or resorting to violence. He was doing that the day he was killed. Charlie is gone, but the cause he gave his life to, settling our disagreements with words and not violence, does not die with him. It lives on in the millions of young Americans who he inspired, and it will outlast whoever tried to silence it. On behalf of Utah and all who called Charlie a friend, I ask my colleagues to join me in a moment of silence for Charlie Kirk; his wife, Erika; and their children. May God watch over the Kirk family, and we will carry forward what he taught us: to argue with conviction, and do it without hate.”
Mr. Speaker, 1 year ago on September 10, 2025, the world witnessed a senseless act of political violence that took Charlie Kirk from us on a college campus in my home State of Utah. Charlie unashamedly believed in the promise of America. At age 18, he founded Turning Point USA, built, in its own words, to promote the principles of ``freedom, free markets, and limited government,’’ a movement of millions who love this country and its founding ideals. Charlie believed that we could become a more perfect Union through conversations and spirited debates. He believed that you beat bad ideas with better ideas, not by shouting them down or resorting to violence. He was doing that the day he was killed. Charlie is gone, but the cause he gave his life to, settling our disagreements with words and not violence, does not die with him. It lives on in the millions of young Americans who he inspired, and it will outlast whoever tried to silence it. On behalf of Utah and all who called Charlie a friend, I ask my colleagues to join me in a moment of silence for Charlie Kirk; his wife, Erika; and their children. May God watch over the Kirk family, and we will carry forward what he taught us: to argue with conviction, and do it without hate.