By Lindsey Weedston

Copyright dailydot

The daughter of a Sandy Hook survivor spoke on how her desensitization to gun violence left her feeling little about Charlie Kirk’s death. She blamed this on congressional inaction on gun control, leading to hundreds more high-profile shootings in the past 12 years.

The TikToker hopes that the death of a far-right political commentator will finally inspire Republicans to take appropriate action on this issue, but it’s not looking good.

The normalization of American gun violence

On Sept. 11, fitness TikToker Molly (@moveswithmolly) diverged from her usual content to speak on the killing of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. Her mother narrowly survived the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in 2012, giving her family a specific perspective on the subject.

In her video, Molly laments her lack of emotional response to the shooting, but points out that there have been so many over the years that she can’t feel much of anything about them anymore.

@moveswithmolly #charliekirk #sandyhook ♬ original sound – Molly | Feel Good Fitness

“When I heard that Charlie Kirk died today, I felt bad that I didn’t feel bad at all,” she said. “That I am so desensitized to once again hearing about people dying from gun violence that I don’t care at all.”

She may have overstated it by saying that she doesn’t care at all, since she cared enough to make a video. She remains passionate about a policy she believes could have saved Kirk’s life, even if he didn’t feel the same way.

“The only thing that could have saved Kirk’s life—it wasn’t more security, it wasn’t a bulletproof vest, it wasn’t even mental health services,” she continued. “It was gun control.”

She went on to say that she hopes this shooting in particular will finally inspire Republicans to support gun control measures. Unfortunately, the resounding response from the right has been to defend easy gun availability and blame the left in spite of evidence that the shooter was even further to the right than Kirk himself.

“This is not a gun issue. Violent crime is a crime issue,” Republican strategist Greg Swenson told GB News. “We have the George Soros-backed DAs who don’t prosecute crime.”

“It had nothing to do with guns, but it doesn’t fit the left’s narrative.”

The shooter has no prior criminal history.

“They won’t change”

Commenters on Molly’s TikTok video widely agreed that gun control might have saved Kirk, but many do not share her optimism that the right will change their minds on this issue. Sandy Hook, or any of the many horrific mass shootings that have happened since, killed that hope for them.

“They’ll just make a martyr out of him,” said @spacetimejoy. “They won’t change.”

“Recently retired teacher here,” wrote @teach4apples2020. “When no real legislation happened after Sandy Hook, I knew nothing was ever going to change. Ever.”

Others honed in on Molly’s point about Kirk’s opposition to gun control in spite of the many gun deaths in the U.S. each year.

“I don’t support what happened to Charlie Kirk. Charlie Kirk supported what happened to Charlie Kirk,” said @amanduhhhhhplease.

“Perfectly stated. The wrong kind of person died today,” stated @mktg_68. “That’s why they’re angry. They voted for Libs to suffer, not their own. They feel cheated. The end.”

In 2023, Kirk opined at a Turning Point USA Faith event that the deaths are worth the gun rights.

“I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights,” he said.

The Daily Dot has reached out to @moveswithmolly for comment via TikTok.

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