Salem Radio Network host Scott Jennings said on Wednesday that the shooting of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder Charlie Kirk made him wonder if an “outspoken conservative” could feel “safe.”
Kirk was assassinated during a TPUSA event at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10 while in the midst of a question-and-answer session. Two people of interest in the shooting were initially arrested and then released by Federal authorities. Jennings’ comments came roughly a half hour before President Donald Trump confirmed that Kirk had not survived the shooting in a post on Truth Social. (RELATED: ‘I Did See Him Fall’: Former GOP Rep Gets Choked Up Describing Scene At Tragic Charlie Kirk Event)
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“I sat in this room last summer, the night they shot the president, and now they shot Charlie. And I’m not sure it’s safe to be an outspoken conservative walking around in America right now,” Jennings told “The Arena” host Kasie Hunt. after recounting breaking the news of the shooting during his radio show.
“And, there’s a lot of people out there who are in absolute shock and are horrified by this,” Jennings, who prayed on-air for Kirk, continued. “And I don’t know what’s going to happen other than to tell you that this nation is in desperate need of prayer and some kind of an intervention because the — when you can’t — I mean, what was Charlie doing? Making a speech, engaging in rhetoric, having a debate. That’s the bedrock of our nation. And now, you can’t go out in public and engage in speech. It’s the opposite of violence. Speech is the opposite.”
Kirk founded TPUSA, an organization for conservative college and high school students, in June 2012, according to the organization’s website. He also hosted “The Charlie Kirk Show,” a podcast that later became a radio show on the Salem Radio Network, according to his biography on the TPUSA site.
Trump ordered flags to be flown at half-staff through Sunday, Sept. 14, to honor Kirk’s memory. Following the assassination, Democrats in Congress also shouted down a request for prayer after Kirk’s assassination by Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, triggering an angry outburst from Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida.
Authorities are still searching for the perpetrator of the shooting.
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