There is no but, political assassinations have no place in our society

September 15, 2025

OPINION by BOB SHANBROM

As a self-professed San Francisco-progressive, I’ve been getting a lot of social media feeds that read like this: “I condemn the killing of Charlie Kirk but… .” There are no buts about this assassination.

A family will wonder for the rest of their lives when daddy is coming home. Someone who was a hero to many was taken from their lives. Our nation has taken another step toward the brink.

Agree with Charlie Kirk or not, he was exercising his constitutional right to free speech. For those too-many of us who would argue, “but it was hateful,” we need to remind ourselves that the First Amendment isn’t there to protect acceptable speech, it is there to protect “offensive” speech.

Frankly, although I read widely–not widely enough, I didn’t know of Charlie Kirk at all before Sept. 10. As I watch and read the obituaries and retrospectives come in I am seeing a clip that contains some valuable insight, that leftists need to return to their liberal roots, especially free speech.

To that I would add pacifism and the rejection of hatred, what MLK preached. I never feel prouder of my nation than when the ACLU defends the KKK on its right to free speech, despicable as it may be.

We are conceived as a nation *under law* where open discourse is enshrined in the very first amendment. As one of our godparents, Voltaire, is attributed to have said, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

We need to mourn the victims of political assassinations and to reject political assassination without any ifs, ands or buts–just a period.

Bob Shanbrom is a community activist who lives in San Luis Obispo.