"Prevention, people!": Perez Hilton reacts after Erika Kirk claims America doesn't have "gun problem" even after Charlie Kirk's assassination

Charlie Kirk's wife, Erika Kirk, recently gave an interview at the Dealbook Summit of The New York Times. The conversation between Andrew Ross Sorkin and TPUSA's CEO was streamed live on December 3. In the interview, Erika Kirk shared a range of memories about her late husband. During the conversation, Sorkin discussed "gun violence in America" with Charlie Kirk's widow.

Pop culture podcaster Perez Hilton covered this conversation in his December 4 blog. At some point in the interview, Sorkin said that Charlie Kirk firmly supported the Second Amendment. Noting that, he solicited Erika Kirk's thoughts on gun violence, especially when her husband was shot publicly.

TPUSA's new chair endorsed the Second Amendment and opined that the root cause of violence was mental issues. Hilton quoted Erika Kirk's remarks, which read:

“What I’ve realized through all of this is that you can have individuals that will always resort to violence. And what I’m afraid of is that we are living in a day and age where they think violence is the solution to them not wanting to hear a different point of view. That’s not a gun problem, that’s a human — deeply human — problem. That is a soul problem, that is a mental — that is a very deeper issue."

However, Perez Hilton challenged Erika Kirk's thoughts and suggested otherwise. He added that he was not surprised by TPUSA's chairperson's statement "given her beliefs." While giving equal importance to mental health, Hilton commented that the gun safety movement was centered around "minimizing the likelihood."

"It’s about saving as many lives as possible, and it’s not about taking guns away. It’s about safety and common sense. Prevention, people! Prevention matters, and you can care about both the mental health problems AND gun safety. They are not mutually exclusive," Hilton commented.

In the interview, Charlie Kirk’s wife said he was aware of the mental health issue. She noted that the late activist promoted discussion on this issue at TPUSA’s college events.

"Not something pre-planned"- Erika Kirk opens up about forgiving Charlie Kirk's assassin

For the uninitiated, at Charlie Kirk's memorial, his wife extended forgiveness to Kirk's killer. In the Wednesday interview, she recalled the moment and said that her husband would also have forgiven. She stressed that forgiveness was not a sign of weakness. Kirk's wife added that it also did not mean believing that what the assassin had done was acceptable.

The host said that he imagined Erika Kirk must have been full of rage and emotion when it happened and asked whether she had written that speech herself. Charlie Kirk's wife said that while she had prepared her speech, she left the forgiveness part 'open' and did not pre-plan what to say.

"That part I specifically left open. If you look at my speech notes, that part I prayed on so heavily beforehand, and that was a game-time, exact second-to-second moment. That was not something pre-planned. That was not because I'm not going to say something I don't truly believe," she stated.

She continued,

"And when I prayed on it, I knew that the Lord would really press it on my heart. And if I was meant to say it because I truly meant it and believed it, then I was going to say it. But I was not going to pre-plan that."

Days after Charlie Kirk's assassination, TPUSA's board unanimously appointed his wife as the organization's new CEO. Before the interview mentioned above, Erika Kirk had recently spoken with Megyn Kelly, where she remembered her husband.

Edited by Anuj Singh Kushwaha