Claim:
Charlie Kirk, CEO and co-founder of Turning Point USA, once said: “The Second Amendment is not for hunting, it’s not for self-defense. It’s to ensure that free people can defend themselves if God forbid a government turns tyrannical and against its citizens.”
Rating:
Rating: Correct characteristic
In late January 2026, a claim circulated online Charlie Kirk, CEO and co-founder of Turning Point USA, once said that the Second Amendment to the US Constitution is not for “predation” or “self-defense,” but rather to “ensure that free people can defend themselves” from tyrannical government.
Rumors spread after the murder 37 years old Alex Pretty in the hands of Federal immigration authorities On January 24, 2026, in Minneapolis, two weeks after the shooting of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer Jonathan Ross. Renee good Under similar circumstances in a Minnesotan city.
Social media users Threads (archived), Instagram (archived) and Facebook (archived) shared a screenshot purportedly showing a Kirk quote, which reportedly read:
The Second Amendment is not for hunting, it is not for self-defense
This is to ensure that free people can defend themselves if a government, God forbid, becomes tyrannical and turns against its citizens.
In short, the words were correctly attributed to Kirk, who posted the comment of X (then Twitter) March 3, 2018 (archived). The timestamp and content of his post match the screenshot users shared in 2026.
Kirk’s statement appeared to refer to the events of the time. On February 14, 2018, a month before Kirk’s post, A Mass school shootings The event took place at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, leading to a renewed focus on gun rights and the Second Amendment in the United States.
On the date of Kirk’s post, Florida held “a rare Saturday session” of the state Senate to consider “a number of gun and school safety measures.” Parkland shootingAccording to one NPR Report. on the same day, Reuters reported on the arrest of a man suspected of shooting his parents, which may have amplified the discourse surrounding gun access on that particular date.
The post in question was the latest in a series of resurfaced comments from Kirk that spread online. For example, something his alleged posts and CommentsEspecially about Second Amendment and gun control More generally, he later recirculated online fatal shot On September 10, 2025.
Snopes Research first Kirk once said: “I think it is, unfortunately, the price of a few gun deaths every year that we can use the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.”
In that report, Snopes revealed on April 5, 2023, Interview Presenting Kirk at the Church of the Awakened’s Salt Lake City campus that confirmed the quote but also included a statement mirroring the content of his March 2018 X post about the Second Amendment.
During the 2023 interview, which is available to listen to at Awaken Church Podbean podcast feed, Kirk said (starting at 39:28): “The Second Amendment is not about hunting. I love hunting. The Second Amendment is not about personal defense either. That’s important. The Second Amendment is there, God forbid, so you can defend yourself against a tyrannical government.”
Thus, not only was the quote correctly attributed to Kirk, but there were other instances in which he repeated similar statements, clarifying his opinion on the Second Amendment.
Sources:
Alex Pretty Article | Snopes.com. https://www.snopes.com/tag/alex_pretti/. Accessed 28 January 2026.
“Murder of Conservative Activist Charlie Kirk at University of Utah.” AP News, 10 Sept. 2025, https://apnews.com/article/charlie-kirk-conservative-activist-shot-546165a8151104e0938a5e085be1e8bd.
Cordner, Sascha. “Florida lawmakers under pressure to move forward on gun control measures.” NPR, 3 March 2018. the law NPR, https://www.npr.org/2018/03/03/590616743/florida-lawmakers-under-pressure-to-move-forward-on-gun-control-measures.
Development, PodBean. Charlie Kirk Live in SLC | Awake Church // Audio. https://awakenaudio.podbean.com/e/charlie-kirk-live-in-slc/. Accessed 28 January 2026.
Kirk, Charlie. X, 3 March 2018, https://x.com/charliekirk11/status/970091987104911361?s=20.
Liles, Jordan. “Charlie Kirk once said that a few gun deaths were ‘worth it’ to pass the Second Amendment.” Snopes, 10 Sept. 2025, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/charlie-kirk-gun-deaths-quote/.
“Man Shot Dead During Minneapolis Immigration Crackdown, National Guard Activated.” AP News, 24 Jan. 2026, https://apnews.com/article/immigration-enforcement-minnesota-4d1499fc5962ab880f3816259e04bdbf.
Parkland School Shooting Article | Snopes.com. https://www.snopes.com/tag/parkland-school-shooting/. Accessed 28 January 2026.
“Victims of the 2018 Parkland, Florida, high school massacre.” AP News, 21 Oct. 2021, https://apnews.com/article/education-florida-gun-politics-school-boards-nikolas-cruz-44a0da3e406f0c487e5c0a6b0855ee2e.
