What are your thoughts on the Charlie Kirk assassination and/or recent rise in political violence across America?

"The reactions to these political violence incidents are stark evidence of how broken and divided we are as a country, and how those in leadership have no intention to temper the volatility and fury of the political climate or attempt to close the increasing gap between parties. Lives lost are being weaponized and politicized, facts are being distorted and left out to misinform and manipulate, some violent acts are being glorified while others dismissed, and no real solutions are being discussed or implemented."

• "Charlie's death hit America differently; I speak for a lot of people when I say it feels like we lost a brother. And I know many people will disagree but none of this is about guns or weapons - it is about the hatred people are allowing to fester in their hearts and minds toward those who think or believe differently than they do. No amount of violence anywhere toward anyone is ok!! The difference between Charlie's death and some of the other recent tragedies is that no one is celebrating a school shooting. No one is on social media praising the gunmen or arsonists attacking our government officials. Those celebrating the death of an innocent man are sick and need to take a hard look in the mirror. All Charlie did was give literally anyone a platform to come talk, which is the type of civil engagement our country was founded on. His political views flowed from his faith so chalking this up as nothing more than a political assasination is an insult to his memory."

"Taking a human life is wrong. There should be no qualifiers to that statement. This country has arrived at the unavoidable product of decades of increasingly callous political rhetoric and the unwillingness of our legislators to craft meaningful gun reform. Our media sources have largely failed us as they became either more partisan or crafted news as entertainment rather than information, while furthering the divide by amplifying the loudest, most extreme voices. Add in the woefully low literacy rate in the U.S. (54% of adults are at or below a 6th grade literacy level) and the growing wealth divide, the path towards violence seems inevitable. This will only become worse as we drift deeper into authoritarianism. I do not see an end to this until we have leaders that end this culture of cruelty, misinformation and performative politics."

• "Disgusting. I believe in free speech, but tech companies must be held accountable for what happens on their platforms. They should invest in protecting the public as much as they profit from us. The negative impact now outweighs the positive, and it’s time to evaluate that across the political spectrum. There’s nothing more American than standing up to protect all people, especially those we disagree with."

"While the violence has targeted both sides of the political spectrum, a vast majority of these attacks have come from people on the left side of that spectrum. Recent polls indicate that individuals who self identify as left of center increasingly support the use of violence to further a political agenda."

• "The four past presidents sent notes requesting an end to political violence. President Trump sent another inflammatory note blaming Democrats. Violence is being promoted from the highest office in the USA."

"Charlie Kirk was a man of God. He was a father and a husband and a son. Regardless of your agreement or disagreement with his views, assassinating a man to silence his voice is evil and wrong. If we, as a nation with diverse views, are unable to have civil discourse, we are lost. Any society that forces ideology with bullets is a lost society. Charlie Kirk's beliefs about Christ, about ideology, were all mainstream beliefs just a few short years ago. When every large media outlet and many major politicians in Washington bandy about terms like facist, Nazi, racism and white supremacy it is deliberately designed to dehumanize those who hold opposing views. Those terms should only be applied in truth - not to score political points and over time, to convince people to hate each other."

• "Political violence is a slippery slope that we slipped back into some time ago, this is not new and the narrative and attention being paid to this incident is unfair to recent prior victims. We have a problem with violence in America, we have an unaddressed gun problem in America. On the same day that Mr. Kirk was assassinated, we see yet another school shooting in CO. Rather than focusing our entire nation’s efforts and grief on the assassination of Mr. Kirk, can we please step back and refocus our attention on a divided nation that should be saying “this is enough”; we need to find solutions that don’t involve further violence, rather avoid it. We need to stop normalizing gun violence, especially within our schools, this is not normal. Don’t get me wrong, I grieve for Mr. Kirk and his family, but the response from our media and in particular our elected officials is a massive disservice to all other victims out there."

"The recent rise of political violence is truly upsetting. I'm so glad you highlighted all of the terrible violent acts and not just Charlie Kirk. While I never agreed with Charlie Kirk and his political views, I never want anyone to be killed for their beliefs. The United States needs gun reform, as we know that these political acts of violence are not the only acts of gun violence in America. On the same day as Charlie Kirk's assassination, there was a shooting at a Colorado High School. My hope is that these horrible events will help spur improvements to keep violence like this from happening again. It's becoming so commonplace that we get news of a shooting that it is becoming an increasingly scary world. I do worry that Charlie Kirk's death will instead cause a negative and violent reaction from those who would wish to avenge him. More violence is not the answer."

• "Social media and the 24-hour news cycle has destroyed our society. No one wants to wait for well-vetted facts. No one wants to have discussions or conversations. Kirk himself invited people to "change [his] mind", but he really just waited for a key phrase from well-meaning college students to trigger one of his prepared soundbites. He wasn't a debater; he was a faux-intellectual bully. And that's the culture today: we don't listen to understand, we listen to react. When some people don't feel heard, they react with violence. And when the "leader of the free world" can't be bothered to respond with compassion and an urge to wait for the facts, why would it be expected of anyone else? Nope, blame was immediately pointed at the rhetoric of the "radical left," unsubstantiated claims were made that the markings on the bullet casings had trans and antifa messaging, and we don't expect that to lead to any retaliation?! Kirk called for a patriot to bail out the person who attacked Paul Pelosi, but the rhetoric of the left is too radical?! A man's death is no longer meaningful; it has become a tally on the scoreboard between a divided country, and it is disgusting."