Erika Kirk, Turning Point USA CEO and the widow of conservative icon Charlie Kirk, rejected the argument that gun violence was the root problem that led to her husband's assassination.
On Wednesday, Kirk sat down with journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin to close out The New York Times DealBook Summit, a coveted spot that has previously featured luminaries such as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. Sorkin noted that her husband was slated to appear at the DealBook Summit before his assassination.
Sorkin said that the subject of gun violence was something he and Charlie Kirk had often debated in the wake of mass shootings in America.
"He was a real believer, as you know, in the Second Amendment,and I'm curious how you think today about gun violence in America, given what happened to him," Sorkin said.
"It's a thoughtful question," Kirk responded. "And I wouldn't wish upon anyone what I have been through. And I support the Second Amendment as well. I do. But there's a bigger and much deeper conversation to all of that."
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Kirk said when visiting college campuses, the counselors always say that the top issues students are facing are "mental health, anxiety [and] depression."
"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 — how you eat, how you take care of yourself, how you nourish yourself, how you rest. And to him, it was much more deeper and intricate," Kirk told Sorkin at the DealBook Summit.
"And what I've realized through all of this is that you can have — you can have individuals that will always resort to violence. And what I'm afraid of is that we are living in a day and age where they think violence is the solution to them not wanting to hear a different point of view. 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," she continued.
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Kirk also revealed that she had removed all social media from her phone following her husband's murder.
"Social media, like many things, it can be used for such good. And it can be used for such evil," Kirk said. "And Charlie and I both intentionally, especially after he was murdered, I took it all off my phone. I don't even have news apps on my phone. I have nothing on my phone. I let other people post for me and siphon through those comments. That is not — I do not have the brain space for that, and it would not be healthy for me either. I get called so many names, I genuinely don't care. I really don't. I told you this before — when you cast the bloody dead body of the person that you love, it pales in comparison to being called x, y, z."
She went on to say that while Charlie "understood the importance of social media," he would also "honor the Sabbath" and have them turn off their phones each week.
"It did not happen overnight. This is something that he leaned into. And on Friday night, when he would get home from work, he would turn off his phone and he would shove it in the junk drawer, and he would say, ‘Shabbat Shalom,’ shove it in the drawer, and he was full Dad mode, fooling with the kids, sports mode on Saturdays for college football, and he could breathe," Kirk said. "He had this sacred moment to just breathe and to rest and get away from the chatter, get away from the world and just have a moment to understand that life is so much bigger than the To-Do list, than the small problem that you're facing that you'll laugh at five years or five months, or five minutes from now. And he was really good about that."
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