SALT LAKE CITY – The echoes of the single gunshot that killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk on the campus of Utah Valley University are now reverberating through the halls of the state Capitol. In the wake of the shocking September 10th assassination, a key Utah lawmaker has announced he is renewing an urgent push for legislation that would mandate comprehensive security assessments for all of Utah’s public colleges and universities—a proposal the state Senate rejected just last session.

Rep. Ryan Wilcox, a Republican from Ogden and the chair of Utah’s school security task force, confirmed Monday that the tragedy has provided the grim and undeniable impetus to force a change that he believes is tragically overdue. “Assessments need to be done,” Wilcox stated bluntly. “Everyone understands that now.”

The proposed legislation would bring the state’s higher education system in line with its K-12 schools, which are already required to conduct similar security reviews every three years under a 2024 law. Wilcox had included colleges in his original bill during the 2025 Legislature, but that component was stripped out in the Senate. Now, armed with the horrifying evidence of what can happen when security is not properly scrutinized, Wilcox is determined to see the measure passed.

The renewed legislative effort comes as UVU’s security protocols on the day of Kirk’s assassination face intense criticism. Experts have questioned the decision to host a high-profile, and often controversial, figure like Kirk in an open campus courtyard with what has been described as “light security.” The event was staffed by only six UVU police officers, and no assistance was requested from the Utah County Sheriff’s Office, an oversight many believe left Kirk dangerously exposed. The sound of that single shot sent the audience running for cover and triggered a manhunt that locked down the community for nearly 36 hours.

The fallout was immediate and widespread. Other universities in the state, recognizing their own potential vulnerabilities, began scrambling to bolster their own security. At Utah State University, where Kirk had been scheduled to speak just weeks later, officials organized a massive, multi-agency security detail for an event held in his place, which featured Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. Keith Squires, Chief Safety Officer at the University of Utah, confirmed during a task force meeting on Monday that the assassination had prompted immediate changes at his institution.

“We all know that tragedy strikes, sometimes resources are made available, and the university’s allowed me to be able to put some things in place after assessing needs that I feel very good about,” Squires said, acknowledging that the UVU shooting was a direct catalyst for these new resources.

For Rep. Wilcox, these reactive measures highlight a deeper, systemic problem. He warned that campus and local police departments are often stretched too thin to consistently provide the level of security needed for the large-scale, politically charged events that are becoming increasingly common.

“This is the new reality: We do not have the resources that we need to pull that off consistently,” Wilcox said. “At some point, we’ve got to build that into the structure, into the plan, into the priority list, to make sure that that’s taken care of.”

That is precisely what his revived bill aims to do. By making security assessments a mandatory, recurring requirement, the law would force universities to proactively identify and address weaknesses rather than waiting for a tragedy to expose them. Wilcox said he has already spoken with most of Utah’s college presidents, many of whom have already ordered their own assessments in the wake of Kirk’s death. However, he insists a state law is necessary to ensure that this level of scrutiny is maintained for years to come. It took the public assassination of a prominent national figure to create the political will, but for lawmakers and university officials across Utah, the message is now tragically clear: the time for debating campus security is over.