The sun beat down on 3,000 eager attendees as Hunter Kozak approached the microphone at the bottom of the amphitheater to talk to Charlie Kirk. He seemed a little nervous, but cheerful, and prepared with his question.<\/p>\n
It was September 10, 2025. From under his white tent across the stadium, Kirk leaned forward and greeted Kozak, a Utah Valley University student and liberal TikTok commentator<\/a>. \u201cHey Charlie,\u201d said Kozak, according to footage taken by his wife and shared with The Daily Wire, telling the Turning Point USA founder that he was hoping \u201cto have a little more disagreement\u201d than those who asked questions before him.<\/p>\n He then launched into his question: \u201cA few weeks ago there was a transgender mass shooter, and ever since then, about three weeks later, the Trump DOJ said that we should start talking about revoking gun rights for transgender Americans.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n The crowd of students erupted into cheers. Six days earlier The Daily Wire had reported<\/a> that the administration was \u201cactively considering\u201d ways to keep firearms out of the hands of individuals suffering gender dysphoria.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI think you\u2019re in support of this decision, yes?\u201d Kozak questioned Kirk. \u201cIs that fair to say? All right, great. So, <\/span>do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cToo many,\u201d responded the 31-year-old TPUSA founder. It was only two weeks after the Annunciation school shooting, in which a trans-identifying killer had killed two children and injured many others when he opened fire on a Catholic school mass.<\/p>\n Kozak\u2019s initial response to Kirk was drowned out by the cheering and clapping of the crowd. Then the UVU student can be heard saying, \u201cIt\u2019s five. Ok, now five is a lot, right? I\u2019m going to give you some credit. Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last ten years?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cCounting or not counting gang violence?\u201d asked Kirk.<\/p>\n \u201cGreat,\u201d began Kozak, ready with a retort based on his own analysis of gun violence and trans-identifying shooters. But his response never left his mouth. <\/span><\/p>\n At that very moment a shot rang out. Kirk\u2019s assassin had fired at 12:23 p.m. mountain time, hitting the TPUSA founder in the neck. <\/span>By 2:40 p.m. local time, President Donald Trump had announced that Kirk was dead.<\/p>\n Kirk\u2019s last conversation on earth centered on a topic that he had discussed at length, particularly throughout the end of August and beginning of September: the disturbing rise in transgender violence. Kirk was unapologetic about his stance, that trans-identifying individuals were targeting Christians, and, given their gender confusion, they were too mentally unwell to own firearms.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you are crazy enough to want to hormonally and surgically \u2018change your sex,\u2019 you have a mental disorder, and you are too crazy to own a firearm,\u201d he posted on \u201cX\u201d on August 27, 2025, the day that the trans-identifying shooter, Robert Westman, killed Catholic school children<\/a> before taking his own life.<\/p>\n \u201cFirst Nashville, now this,\u201d Kirk asked the same day, referring to the trans-shooter who targeted children at Covenant Christian School. \u201cHow many times makes a trend?\u201d<\/p>\n Westman\u2019s attack came just two years after another that trans-identifying killer targeted Christian school children in Nashville. Leaders of Catholic and independent schools in Minnesota had begged Governor Tim Walz<\/a> to help prevent similar shootings, fearing that the next shooter would target one of their schools. That security funding was never authorized, a fact which became painfully evident after the Minneapolis shooting in late August.<\/p>\n Now five months later, the world is reeling from another transgender-identifying attacker<\/a>, this time in Canada. The shooter, a man who believed he was a woman and wore a dress, opened fire on a rural school in British Columbia, killing ten and injuring dozens. It is yet another example of transgender violence, but the pressing issue that Kirk was opining on regularly now seems to have fallen out of consideration.<\/p>\n It was after the Minneapolis shooting that the Department of Justice was deliberating how to respond to this rise in transgender violence. The Daily Wire broke the news<\/a> on September 4 that the DOJ was considering blocking trans-identifying people from buying firearms, reviewing ways to\u00a0ensure that mentally ill individuals suffering from gender dysphoria are unable to obtain firearms while they are unstable and unwell,\u201d according to one source.<\/p>\n The DOJ\u2019s discussions centered on the acknowledgement that those who identify as transgender suffer from gender dysphoria, a mental disorder, which describes the sense of unease that a man or woman may feel if he or she thinks that their biological sex is mismatched with their so-called gender identity.<\/p>\n \u201cDemocrats have called for common sense gun laws for a long time,\u201d one DOJ source told The Daily Wire in September. \u201cThis seems pretty common sense to me.\u201d<\/p>\n The news sparked massive debate from both the Left and the Right, with many raising Second Amendment concerns about such a proposal.<\/p>\n Then, on September 10, a gunman identified by authorities as Tyler Robinson was charged with shooting Kirk in the neck. Robinson lived with his \u201ctransgender partner,\u201d a male named Lance Twiggs who is attempting to transition to a transgender female. Twiggs had vanished from the public view for months but was just this weekj spotted living quietly in Texas<\/a> as the investigation plays out.<\/p>\n While it is known that Robinson deeply disagreed with Kirk\u2019s political views, it remains unclear whether Robinson specifically targeted Kirk for his views on transgenderism. The FBI\u2019s investigation into the murder is ongoing.<\/p>\n But the fact remains that Robinson fired at Kirk as the TPUSA founder was addressing transgender violence.<\/p>\n A review by the Daily Wire found a steady stream of transgender-related violence<\/a> over the past decade. And given this rise, many conservatives on the right were calling for closer examination of transgender violence at the time of Kirk\u2019s death. Some wanted action, furious that officials like Walz had not taken the situation more seriously. Walz instead signed legislation establishing Minnesota as a \u201ctrans refuge,\u201d promising to \u201cprotect those seeking gender-affirming care.\u201d<\/p>\n Kirk\u2019s death had stunned the world. He was a personal friend of many members of President Donald Trump\u2019s administration, including the leadership of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice. Many members of the president\u2019s cabinet and wider administration traveled to Phoenix, Arizona to commemorate Kirk with his wife and the Turning Point USA team at a massive memorial in Kirk\u2019s honor.<\/p>\n Erika Kirk joins U.S. President Donald Trump onstage during the memorial service for political activist Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium on September 21, 2025 in Glendale, Arizona.\u00a0 (Photo by Win McNamee\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Five months after the shooting, it is not clear whether the DOJ discussions on banning guns for trans-identifying individuals have moved forward. The DOJ did not immediately comment on the matter to The Daily Wire. A source familiar with the Trump administration\u2019s thinking said that the topic is not something that they have heard discussed since the Daily Wire\u2019s original reporting in September.<\/p>\n Reached for comment on the matter, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said Friday that the administration is committed to \u201cinvestigating, disrupting, dismantling, and prosecuting individuals and entities engaged in organized political violence and domestic terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n Jackson slammed left-wing organizations for fueling violent riots, organizing attacks on law enforcement officers, coordinating illegal doxing campaigns, arranging \u201cdrop points for weapons and riot materials, and more,\u201d promising that the Trump administration will \u201cget to the bottom of this vast network inciting violence in American communities, and the President\u2019s executive actions to address left-wing violence will put an end to any illegal activities.\u201d<\/p>\n Her statement did not directly address transgender violence or the proposed gun-ban, referencing the broader \u201cdomestic terrorism\u201d at play in the United States. Yet there are a number of indicators that the administration is taking transgender violence seriously.<\/p>\n Aboard Air Force One on his way back from Kirk\u2019s memorial, Trump told The Daily Wire that his administration was \u201cvery strongly\u201d examining the string of transgender violence throughout the United States.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know, we\u2019re looking at that,\u201d the president said gravely, asking, \u201cWhat\u2019s the reason for it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, there seems to be something,\u201d he reflected. \u201cBut we\u2019re looking at it very strongly. Something seems to be going on.\u201d<\/p>\n Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to President Donald Trump and senior director for counterterrorism, told The Daily Wire<\/a> in early September, before the assassination, that his draft U.S. Counterterrorism plan addresses transgender violence, asked whether there should be a transgender domestic terrorism label such as \u201cTransgender Ideology-Inspired Violence and Extremism\u201d (TIVE) (a classification suggested by The Oversight Project)<\/a>.<\/p>\n Trump advisor Stephen Miller and Vice President JD Vance, in interviews that took place shortly after Kirk\u2019s death, vowed to dismantle the domestic terrorism movement within the United States.<\/p>\n \u201cWith God as my witness, we are going to use every resource we have at the Justice Department, Homeland Security, and throughout this government, to identify, disrupt, dismantle, and destroy these networks, and make America safe again for the American people,\u201d said Miller. Vance similarly stressed: \u201cWe have to talk about this incredibly destructive movement of left-wing extremism that has grown up over the last few years, and I believe, is part of the reason why Charlie was killed by an assassin\u2019s bullet.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2025\/09\/Screenshot-2026-02-12-at-1.16.06-PM-1024x339.png\")
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