Columbia University's student-run satirical newspaper, The Columbia Federalist, published an article Wednesday that mocked Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk hours after he was shot and killed at an event at Utah Valley University.
The short piece, which the paper posted on its website soon after news of the shooting, lampooned Kirk’s staunch support for the Second Amendment and included a headline that read, "Turning Point USA Undergoes Unexpected Ideological Shift, States Second Amendment Actually Not That Important Anymore." The mock statement in the article said, "The Turning Point USA leadership team recently convened to discuss the role of the Second Amendment in our propaganda, I mean, education. We’ve decided to reconsider our stance on gun control and personal freedoms. This decision was made completely independently of recent events." It later added, "Guns kill people. That is a truth that we have only recently learned. It turns out, ignoring all of those public health experts and grieving parents and nationwide statistics wasn’t a good idea. Our bad!"
The piece concluded with a partisan jab, writing, "In typical conservative fashion, it seems, Turning Point USA only realizes how terrible their politics are when it f---s with their own lives. Go figure." Fox News Digital said it reached out to The Columbia Federalist for comment.
The satirical publication was co-founded by Neil Gorsuch when he was a student in 1986, according to the article. An editor's note attached to the Fox News report said an earlier version of the story incorrectly identified the student publication as the Columbia Spectator and that the error had been corrected.
Kirk, 31, was shot in the neck as he spoke under a white pop-up tent during a campus event Wednesday and was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead later that afternoon. His death prompted vigils across the country and public expressions of mourning from allies and foes alike.
President Donald Trump, who counted Kirk as a friend and ally, spoke Wednesday from the Oval Office and called him a patriot and a man of deep faith. "An assassin tried to silence him with a bullet, but he failed, because together, we will ensure that his voice, his message and his legacy will live on for countless generations to come," Trump said.
As of Thursday morning, authorities had not announced an arrest and the shooter remained at large, according to media reports. Local and federal law enforcement agencies have said they are investigating the incident.
Kirk was a prominent conservative activist who frequently defended the Second Amendment as a means to "defend yourself against a tyrannical government," and at times described some gun deaths as an unfortunate cost of preserving other rights, comments that drew criticism from ideological opponents.
The Columbia Federalist's timing and tone drew immediate attention and criticism on social media and from observers who said the piece was insensitive in the wake of a fatal shooting. The publication's article itself characterized the satire as a commentary on conservative politics and Turning Point USA specifically.
News organizations covering both the killing and the satirical response noted the overlap of a violent political act and public debate over guns that has animated national politics for years. The shooting and the subsequent satirical coverage added to an already intense national conversation about political rhetoric, campus safety and gun policy.