Violence is a last resort. But Silence is no longer an option.

The following article is the opinion of the author and does not automatically reflect the views of all members and officers of Kitsap Rifle & Revolver Club.

Yesterday, our nation’s Patriots commemorated two dozen years since the horrible day of 9/11/2001. It took one day less than that for a murderer to kill a rising conservative voice in a cold-blooded assassination.

I offer several things to think about in the coming months and years of this escalation. For though we have been in a “low-intensity conflict” for several years, this week finally made dozens of millions of people understand that.

1. We as a society must NOT become the very murderers we protest. Be ready for the violence as it escalates; but don’t go looking for it. Maintaining the moral high ground is imperative.
2. This is not a left-vs-right issue, or a Democrat-vs-Republican issue, etc. (The division and class warfare are precisely the crop that the evil enemies have sewn.) The decay of society’s moral code is a direct result of evil. You don’t have to believe in spiritual warfare for it to exist. And that sentiment translates across every major, moral religion in the world. [And for the troll-point arguers: Satanism, by its very definition, worships the Father of Lies and Sin. He is the antithesis of Love. I said MORAL religions.]
3. The arrested person is innocent until proven guilty. So many people claim to believe in Liberty and our Republic, but are quick to angrily join the “public trial” ever-present in social media comments.
4. To truly believe in Charlie Kirk’s legacy, we must become him. God gifted Charlie with a superb intellect and a lightning-fast ability to recall information as he spoke. That doesn’t mean that we can’t learn. We must study the issues and be able to have rational debate with those who believe in other views. Locally! Nobody ever changes their mind in a Facebook argument.
5. Nobody wins an argument screaming. Perhaps the least-discussed strength of Charlie Kirk is the fact that, despite a large percentage of those who challenged him losing control of their emotions, he was nearly perfectly in control of himself at all times. He understood at his core a key thing that people on both sides of the political spectrum can’t seem to grasp—He who loses his cool, loses the argument.
6. Yes, this final point is repeating #4 and 5: we must learn our talking points and start engaging those who oppose us. With respect. But also with authority. Silence is no longer an option. Most people aren’t activists. We don’t go to city council or school board meetings (though we should.) But you can (politely) debate any person spewing lies, missing context, ill-information, and hate… any time and any place. Words—usually false or missing words—are THE reason so many people believe the things that they do. They’ve been told for years that people who believe in certain views are Nazis and fascists—and now they’re starting to become violent because of it… because lies went unchecked.

In closing, I repeat that we must abhor counter-violence; but not at all costs. Be prepared to defend yourselves; but he who goes looking for a fight will surely find one. There is a Biblical difference between killing and murder—and we must not become murderers. We must continue to love our neighbors as ourselves, which is literally a Christian commandment.

Also in summary: learn lots of facts; study the beliefs and arguments of those who spread lies; keep calm while you prove them wrong; and understand not to take it personally when that person loses their shit. People who rely on emotional arguments over facts will, in fact, lose their cool when forced to accept they’ve been fooled. As Mark Twain said, it is easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.

There is no greater love than righteously laying down your life for another. But there’s an argument to be made that the next-greatest love is in spreading truth to those that don’t want to hear it.