"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." - First Amendment, US Constitution
"He's [Charlie Kirk] been one of the most divisive, especially divisive younger figures in this, who is constantly pushing this sort of hate speech or sort of aimed at certain groups. And I always go back to, hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions. And I think this is the environment we are in. You can't stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and not expect awful actions to take place. And that's the unfortunate environment we are." -- Matthew Dowd, MSNBC, September 10th (he was fired later that day)
In the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination, the 1st Amendment is back center-stage. Many people have lost their jobs because of public comments they've made on social media celebrating Kirk's murder, and are crying 'foul' as a result. They are saying that a 'right-wing mob' has come after them and are getting back on social media to tell the world why they think it's unjust that they've been fired from their employment. Some of them are saying that the 1st Amendment affords them the Right to say whatever they want. This is false.