Kirk's death fuels concern for political climate

TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — Whatever side of the aisle you’re on, the political impact of the assassination of Charlie Kirk has hit like an earthquake.

“It has been a huge sock in the gut to everybody,” said Ronda Vuillemont-Smith, former chair of the Tulsa County Republican Party.

“I just feel like things are going out of control,” said Bruce Niemi, former chair of the Tulsa County Democratic Party. Both of them stunned by what happened and reflecting on the atmosphere surrounding it.

“What question can be asked where the answer is we take a 30-06 and take someone’s life?” asked Vuillemont-Smith.

And compounding the tragedy, a brutal wave of comments on the internet.

“Just because somebody says something that we don’t like it’s no sense in being gleeful about their assassination. You know nobody was gleeful about Bobby Kennedy or Martin Luther King or JFK’s assassination, unless they were just an out and out radical, and now that seems to be the course,” said Niemi.

Which raises the question, will Kirk’s death lead to more violence?

“I think so, you know. A friend of mine on the right said, ‘Does this mean war?’ And I would hope not,” said Niemi.

“Are we on a tipping point right now? It’s how we choose to behave over the next coming days that is going to determine the way that we handle this. I would hope that we can handle this in a way that is an adult like manner,” said Vuillemont-Smith.

The death of Charlie Kirk, with the fallout that’s both divisive and unifying.

“This is political violence, and it has no place in a democratic society,” said Niemi.

“How can we ever understand and try to come to some type of a compromise for us to be able to unite as Americans to once again love the country that has been so dear to us?” said Vuillemont-Smith.