Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, told Newsmax on Friday that conservatives "need to be more vocal than ever" following the high-profile murder of activist Charlie Kirk during an event at a college campus on Wednesday.
Kirk was fatally shot during a public Q&A session at Utah Valley University in Orem on Wednesday afternoon. A suspect, identified by authorities as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, was arrested on Friday, according to an announcement made after Gonzales appeared on Newsmax.
Gonzales said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America" that the incident "highlights the fact that we cannot be silent, we cannot allow this murderer to silence our conservative message in any form or fashion. We need to be more vocal than ever."
He added that the response to Kirk's death should be "about protecting the First Amendment and the fact that it is a foundation to our republic is where you can go out and you can be vocal on whatever topic is important to you. That's the first thing."
The congressman added: "If we lose that, the fabric of our country comes apart. Charlie, in particular ... led a generation of young conservatives; that was their hero. And for them to see what happened occur ... it's gutted all of us. And so this is what needs to happen."
Gonzales went on to say that he is fully "behind President Trump finding this killer, hunting down this killer, bringing this killer to justice not only for Charlie, but for everybody else, to make sure that we get our country back on track."
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Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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