Social media and widespread availability of lethal weapons make this era more dangerous than the 1960s – and the violence may increase
Social media and widespread availability of lethal weapons make this era more dangerous than the 1960s – and the violence may increase
Charlie Kirk’s killing came amid a rise in political violence in the US, the kind now so frequent that it moves swiftly out of news cycles it would once have dominated.
The list is long and growing. From the two assassination attempts on Donald Trump during his campaign last year to Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s home burnt in an arson attack in April and the Democratic Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband gunned down by a man dressed as a police officer in June, to name a few.
In the first six months of 2025, more than 520 plots and acts of terrorism and targeted violence occurred, affecting nearly all US states and causing 96 deaths and 329 injuries. This is a nearly 40% increase over the first six months of 2024, according to data from the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism at the University of Maryland.
Mass casualty attacks, where four or more victims were killed or wounded, increased by 187.5% in the first six months of 2025 compared with the same period last year. Michael Jensen, the research director at START, wrote on LinkedIn in late August that “the warning signs of growing civil unrest in the US are evident” in the group’s data.
The killing of a high-profile Trump ally at a public event on a Utah college campus this week could serve as a turning point for political violence – but it’s not clear in which direction. As the right declared war on the left following Kirk’s murder, prominent politicians canceled events over safety concerns and historically Black colleges went on lockdown over threats.
“I absolutely believe this is a watershed in American history,” said Spencer Cox, Utah’s Republican governor, at a press conference on Friday. “The question is, what kind of watershed? That chapter remains to be written. Is this the end of a dark chapter in our history or the beginning of a darker chapter in our history?”
Those who study political violence say the current moment looks similar to the US in the 1960s, when assassins killed John F Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr amid a time of massive social change and backlash. But two key differencesmake this era more dangerous: social media and widespread availability of very lethal weapons, said Amy Pate, the acting director and executive director at START.
Increased adoption of conspiracy theories and online networks where those theories thrive mean that radicalization is “speeding up”, giving people less time to intervene when someone is on the path toward violence, she said.The roots of political violence
A host of factors play into the rise of political violence, and the public’s support for said violence, which has been increasing in surveys over the past year.
People are dissatisfied with the government, the two major political parties and their ability to actually make change.
