Former “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno said the murder of conservative media star Charlie Kirk marked “the death of free speech” — warning that America has reached a point where arguments are being settled with bullets instead of words.

Leno, 75, phoned into “The Tim Conway Jr. Show” on KFI 640 in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, hours after Kirk was fatally shot during a speaking event at Utah Valley University.

“It’s not a random shooting,” Leno told Conway. 3

“I mean, it’s the death of free speech, to think that you are so illiterate and so stupid you can’t answer verbally, and you have to shoot somebody with a gun to win the argument.”

Leno’s interview was first reported by the news site Mediaite.

Authorities said Kirk, 31, the co-founder of conservative nonprofit Turning Po

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