Charlie Kirk killing fuels free speech disputes in Wyoming as newspapers come under attack

Two days after an assassin shot and killed Charlie Kirk, the student newspaper at the University of Wyoming published two stories about the conservative activist who’d visited Laramie’s campus only a few months before.

One was a reported news story, the other an opinion column. Both were written by Charles Vaughters, editor-in-chief of The Branding Iron. As is happening in communities across the U.S. in the days since Kirk’s killing, they would provoke outrage and debate over freedom of speech amid growing concerns about political violence. And that rancor, at least in Wyoming, wouldn’t stop with the Branding Iron.

In the editorial, Vaughters described his experience attending Kirk’s April UW visit.

“During the entirety of the event, Kirk repeatedly stressed that he only wanted what was