We're a Republican and a Democrat. After Charlie Kirk's death, we agree on this. | Opinion

You probably don’t read a lot of pieces written jointly by a Republican and a Democrat these days. We served together in Congress, both representing districts in Arizona, until Gabby was nearly assassinated at an event with her constituents in 2011. When Gabby heroically returned to Congress for the 2012 State of the Union address, we bucked tradition and sat together, instead of sitting on opposite sides of the aisle with our respective parties.

Some moments are too important for partisanship. The moment our country is in today is one of them. 

Since the attempt on Gabby’s life, political violence has raged across America. In 2017, a man targeted Republican Rep. Steve Scalise and others during a congressional baseball practice. In 2021, a political mob attacked police sworn to protect the U.S. Capitol while screaming to hang the vice president. One year later, a man broke into former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s house and attacked her husband with a hammer.

Last summer, two unhinged individuals attempted to assassinate President Donald Trump. This June, an extremist shot and killed a Democratic former Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, Melissa Hortman, and her husband. This gunman also wounded another lawmaker and his wife.

And on Sept. 10, an apparent sniper killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk at a public event on a Utah college campus. Jeff gave a speech on this same campus the day beforeCharlie Kirk was assassinated.

Looking for a free mini puzzle? Play the USA TODAY Quick Cross now.

Get the The Right Tracknewsletter in your inbox.

Columnist Nicole Russell on conservative values, family and religion.

Delivery: Tue, Thu

Your Email

Calls for 'war' and retribution have to stop now

Already, extreme voices are attempting to hijack this debate. There are calls for “war” targeting progressive institutions and donors, and other frightening forms of collective punishment against the president’s critics. Meanwhile, there are radical individuals on the left celebrating the tragedy as an act of twisted political justice. Political violence of any kind, waged by government agents or external extremists, is a betrayal of our founding principles.

If we Americans allow ourselves to be dragged further down this path of violence and retribution, we will lose ourselves – and our country. We will abandon the pursuit of a more perfect union and descend into a frightening era where neighbors are suspicious, strangers are enemies and political opponents are threats who must be neutralized. 

This dystopian future might feel good to social media warriors posting memes, but those of us who want our country to succeed know that letting ourselves be divided into extreme factions will be the end of the great American experiment of democracy.

I was shot in the neck. Charlie Kirk's shooting shows danger of normalizing violence. | Opinion

There will always be disagreements in free societies. No matter where someone falls on the ideological spectrum, there will be people whose views they find to be wrongheaded, ignorant and morally repugnant, and sometimes the feeling is mutual.

In a democracy like ours, we all disagree sometimes, and that’s a good thing. We often disagreed when we served together, and we often learned from it. But disagreements must never become death sentences – if that happens, all of us are at risk, and so is our democracy. 

Bipartisanship is the only way forward to end gun violence

As former members of Congress – one a Democrat and one a Republican – we believe there are two key approaches to halt the slide into violent factionalism. 

First, we need sound leadership. That shouldn't be too much to ask for. Those with power and influence – from the president on down – must realize that fanning the flames of division will only make things worse and lead to even more violence and crime.

Opinion: Why are Democrats rushing to blame Charlie Kirk for his death? It's infuriating.

Kirk’s supporters are angry – we all are – but in this perilous moment, elected officials wield outsized influence on whether the justified anger at the assassin transforms into malice toward fellow Americans. At a moment when everyone seems on edge, irresponsible rhetoric or behavior from people in power has the potential to lead us down an even darker path.

Second, we need to talk about how astonishingly easy it is for violent extremists to assemble arsenals of guns to use against people whom social media characters and algorithms persuade them to hate. This isn’t about left or right, Democrats or Republicans. By now, we know all too well that murderous radicals of any political stripe can be a threat to anyone in the public sphere, as well as the innocent people around them. 

Like the majority of Americans, we both support protecting the gun rights of responsible, law-abiding gun owners. But the stakes are too high to rely solely on the honor system – we need more effective background checks and "red flag" laws to remove guns from people who pose an imminent danger.

Decades from now, Americans will know how this generation of leaders responded in these trying moments. As former elected officials, we have learned that political careers are brief but that legacies last forever. In the wake of Charlie Kirk's horrific assassination, and following other concerning episodes of political violence in recent years, we hope politicians and commentators on all sides take a moment, put down the phone or push their chairs back from their computers, and seriously consider how all of our actions in the coming days and weeks will shape this country for future generations. 

Gabby Giffords is a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives representing Arizona's 8th congressional district and founder of the gun violence prevention organization Giffords. Jeff Flake served as a U.S. senator from Arizona from 2013 to 2019.