The murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on Wednesday left lawmakers reeling, and once again forced them to confront the very real danger of political violence in the United States.
They don’t know what to do about it.
There have been numerous assassination attempts on political figures in very recent history: The near-death of Steve Scalise in 2017 after a gunman opened fire on a group of Republicans practicing baseball; the 2022 attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul; the killing this year of Minnesota’s state speaker, Democrat Melissa Hortman, and her husband; and the attempts on Donald Trump’s life last summer, to name a few.
After Kirk was shot, Republican and Democratic leaders put out somber statements decrying divisions and saying there is no place for such violence in America — just as they had done in June after the targeted shootings in Minnesota.
“It’s a combination of bad political leadership, where people are fanning the flames; and we need a group of leaders across the board, but obviously from the top down, who are all about uniting, bringing people together, disagreeing — but in the most respectful and kind way,” said Rep. Greg Landsman, an Ohio Democrat who was on the Minnesota shooter’s target list. “That’s what I grew up with … we have to get back to it.”
Lawmakers who’ve experienced this kind of violence first hand were in agreement that something must be done, but didn’t have answers as to what.
“There’s no excuse for political violence in our country. It’s got to end,” Scalise said.
But, a reporter asked Scalise, is there anything Congress can do about it?
“It’s a problem that we’ve seen grow, and it’s got to be addressed. It’s gotta stop,” he said.
Rep. Roger Williams, who was injured at the baseball practice shooting, lamented he didn’t know how to fix the rise in violence toward political figures.
“I’ve experienced a lot of this myself, with the baseball shooting … so it’s culturally seemed to have developed, and it’s a shame. We got to get back to family values. These things always take me back to [the shooting],” he said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin made statements both calling for the violence to “stop.”
“We need every political figure. We need everyone who has a platform to say this loudly and clearly,” Johnson said. “We can settle disagreements and disputes in a civil manner, and political violence must be called out, and it has to stop.”
“Every single political leader, Democrat and Republican alike, must loudly condemn this violence,” Martin said. “We must work harder to bring this country together, not divide it.”
But the bipartisan call for de-escalating rhetoric didn’t last long.
As lawmakers were voting on the floor Wednesday, President Donald Trump posted on his social media app Truth Social that Kirk had died from the shooting. Members quietly crowded around their phones, huddling with each other. Some Republicans learned of the news from members of the press and were visibly emotional answering questions.
What transpired quickly devolved into a shouting match on the House floor: A moment of silence was called for Kirk; Democrats called for stricter gun-safety laws; and then Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna accused Democrats of causing Kirk’s death (many Republicans agreed with her).
“We asked for a moment of prayer for Charlie Kirk, and then the Democrats decided at that point in time to try to shout that down,” Luna told reporters.
Later in the evening, Trump put out a video from the Oval Office where he blamed the violence and Kirk’s death on “the left.”
“For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals,” Trump said. “This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism we are seeing in our country today; and it must stop right now.”
The anger and tension on the Hill was also mixed with sadness.
“It’s just tragic for his wife, kids and family,” Rep. Blake Moore, a Utah Republican, said as he was leaving the House floor after votes. “This shouldn’t happen.”
“This has got to stop. We’ve got to stop the political violence,” he added. “It just doesn’t make any sense, this is ridiculous.”
“I’m at a loss for words, and I’m not often at a loss for words,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, told reporters.
And there was also a renewed focus on increasing resources for member security, just as there had been a few short months ago after the Minnesota shootings. There were over 9,000 investigated threats against members of Congress in 2024, according to the U.S. Capitol Police — a stark increase from 4,000 in 2017.
When asked about her personal safety, Greene said, “I am very concerned. I have some of the most death threats in Congress and they’re always ongoing. But again today, I, really, it’s not about me today; it’s about Charlie.”
Rep. Joe Morelle, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, which has jurisdiction over member security, told NOTUS he too isn’t sure how to fix the increase in political violence.
“I know on our end, which is the last thing I want to do, is continue to push for more resources for members of Congress and staff and visitors to the Capitol complex,” Morelle told NOTUS. “There’s a bigger problem, which is that rhetoric in modern politics is reaching a level where people — I know nothing about the person — but sadly, in a lot of these cases, it taps into people who are not mentally well.”