The Utah Valley University courtyard where Charlie Kirk was fatally shot is pictured in Orem, Utah, on Wednesday. Kansas leaders are calling for peaceful discussion and freedom of speech after recent political violence. (Spenser Heaps/Utah News Dispatch)
TOPEKA — Gov. Laura Kelly ordered flags to be flown at half-staff Friday through sundown Sunday for victims of political violence.
The order honors Charlie Kirk, a political activist who was killed this week, as well as Minnesota Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and all victims and survivors of political violence, Kelly said in a press release.
“Our nation should not be a place where freedom of speech is silenced with political violence,” she said. “I call on all Kansans, and all Americans, to join in a movement to bring political violence to an end. We must stop the use of dangerous rhetoric and return to respectfully debating issues without threats, hate, or violence.”
Other Kansas leaders spoke out through social media and press releases, condemning people who use violence against others.
Senate majority leader Chase Blasi and minority leader Dinah Sykes also called for unity in the wake of the deaths of Kirk and Hortman, as well as all the lives lost on Sept. 11.
“The killing of Minnesota’s speaker-emeritus Hortman, the wounding of a state senator, and now the assassination of Charlie Kirk. These were not just political tragedies; they were attacks on free expression itself,” Blasi and Sykes said in a press release. “When violence replaces dialogue, we all lose.”