Yeah, the half-staff thing is a joke. Really, for most public figures. Are we going to lower it for Robert Redford? He just died. Did anyone order the flags lowered for the [looking them up] Hortmans? (the answer is "no")

It's political theater.

Some extraordinary events warrant it. They were lowered for the Sandy Hook victims. They are lowered for POTUSes, though the Felon didn't want them lowered prior to his inauguration (for Jimmy Carter).

I'm sorry...an individual dude from a political organization (that, frankly, I'd never heard of before the shooting) probably doesn't rate it.

And to head off any notion that I support the shooting...no I don't. I've said numerous times that bullets are not appropriate political dialogue, or ways to end an argument. They just aren't. So, while I find irony that Kirk himself said that some lives being sacrificed are necessary to protect the 2nd Amendment, he didn't deserve to be shot. And the perpetrator needs to go to prison.

But, IMHO, he doesn't rate the half-staff. Any more than Robert Redford.