Rittenhouse Kenosha shooting trial judge
Judge Bruce Schroeder, left, Kyle Rittenhouse, center, along with his attorney Mark Richards watch an evidence video in question during proceedings at the Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wis., on Friday, Nov. 12, 2021. (Sean Krajacic/The Kenosha News via AP, Pool)

By Sara Burnett, AP

Kyle Rittenhouse walked the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin, a rifle slung around his chest and shoulder.

The weapon was supposed to be for hunting on a friend’s property up north, the friend says. But on that night in August 2020, Rittenhouse says he took the Smith & Wesson AR-style semi-automatic with him as he volunteered to protect property damaged during protests the previous evening. Before midnight, he used it to shoot three people, killing two.

After a roughly two-week trial, a jury will soon deliberate whether Rittenhouse is guilty of charges, including murder, that could send him to prison for life. Was the then-17-year-old forced to act in self-defense while trying to deter crime, as he and his defense attorneys say? Or did Rittenhouse — the only person in a well-armed crowd to shoot anyone — provoke people with his weapon, instigating the bloodshed, as prosecutors argue?

It’s a similar debate to what has played out across the country around the use of guns, particularly at protests like the one in Kenosha over the shooting of Jacob Blake, a black man, by a white police officer or in other cities over pandemic-related restrictions. In Rittenhouse, some see a patriot defending an American city from destruction when police were unwilling or too overwhelmed to do so. Others see an irresponsible kid in over his head, enamored with brandishing a firearm, or someone looking for trouble or people to shoot.

On the streets of Kenosha that night, Rittenhouse was notable to some for his apparent youthfulness. But, for a while anyway, he was just another person with a gun.

The Kenosha protest was one of many that year to draw armed militias or counterprotesters. Protesters, too, were armed, Kenosha Police Officer Pep Moretta and others testified.

“We were surrounded all night,” Moretta said, adding “there was probably more people armed with weapons than not.”

kyle rittenhouse rifle kenosha
(Adam Rogan/The Journal Times via AP)

The shooting occurred as the coronavirus pandemic raged in the U.S. and three months after the killing of George Floyd, a black man, by a white police officer in Minneapolis prompted protests — some violent — in cities big and small. The election between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden was heating up, with an increase in homicides and calls to “defund the police” a major focus.

All of those factors, experts say, led to a historic spike in the number of background checks to buy or possess a firearm, a key barometer of gun sales. In 2020, the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System database reported almost 39.7 million background checks for gun purchases — more than double the 14.4 million in 2010.

Rittenhouse wasn’t old enough to buy a firearm. But in May 2020 he gave money to his sister’s boyfriend, Dominick Black, with whom he had gone shooting in northern Wisconsin, and Black bought the Smith & Wesson for him. The gun was supposed to remain in a safe at the home of Black’s stepfather, Black testified.

Then on Aug. 23, a white Kenosha police officer responding to a domestic disturbance call shot Blake, who investigators said was armed with a knife. The shooting sparked the protests where people damaged buildings and started fires, at one point burning over 100 vehicles in the lot of a car dealership.

Black said that was when his stepfather got the guns out of his safe in the garage and brought them into the house.

On Aug. 25, Rittenhouse traveled to Kenosha from his home in Illinois. He and Black helped clean up businesses damaged in the unrest, then went back to Black’s house. When they left again for the scene of the protests, they both took their guns.

Richie McGinniss, the chief video director for The Daily Caller, a conservative news site, arrived in Kenosha after working at other protests around the country. This protest was different because Wisconsin law allows some people to openly carry weapons, and he testified that as he followed Rittenhouse through the night, he sensed something bad could happen.

Kenosha rittenhouse shooting self defense
Twitter screen grab

Ryan Balch said he carried an AR-style rifle that night and wore body armor to protect himself from protesters who were armed. The former Army infantryman said he patrolled streets with Rittenhouse, who told Balch he was 19 and an EMT, and thought he seemed like “a young and impressionable kid and ”a little underequipped and underexperienced.”

Gaige Grosskreutz, a protester and volunteer medic, carried a loaded pistol. A supporter of the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms, he said it was the same as any other day: “It’s keys, phone, wallet, gun.”

Gaige Grosskreutz Rittenhouse Kenosha shooting

Grosskreutz became the third person shot by Rittenhouse that night. He testified that he drew his weapon because he believed Rittenhouse, who had already fatally shot Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, was an active shooter. He said Rittenhouse shot him in the arm right after Grosskreutz unintentionally pointed his pistol toward the 17-year-old.

Rittenhouse, who faces a misdemeanor charge of possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18 in addition to homicide charges, testified he did nothing wrong and was defending himself when he fired his rifle. Prosecutors say the former police youth cadet who liked to play video shooting games was taking those fantasies to the streets.

For a lot of people, Rittenhouse is the face of gun owners in America, said David Yamane, a sociology professor at Wake Forest University who studies gun culture.

Defense attorney Corey Chirafisi questions witness Gaige Grosskreutz about the moment he was shot by Kyle Rittenhouse during Rittenhouse’s trial in Kenosha Circuit Court, Monday, Nov. 8, 2021, in Kenosha, Wis. Grosskreutz admitted he pointed his pistol at Rittenhouse before he was shot. (Mark Hertzberg/Pool Photo via AP)

But that is a misconception, he said. In Kenosha, the more typical gun owner was the father who took weapons out of a safe amid unrest, or Grosskreutz, who carried a concealed pistol as a matter of course.

And while Rittenhouse’s core supporters believe he did nothing wrong from start to finish, a much larger group of gun owners “are somewhere in between,” Yamane said. While they support Rittenhouse’s right to defend himself in the moment, they also think he had no business being there, and that “two people died and one person was injured for no good reason.”

Former gun industry executive Ryan Busse, now senior policy adviser to the gun-safety group Giffords, calls Rittenhouse the “avatar” of a customer the NRA and gun companies have been appealing to, including by marketing and selling products with names like the Ultimate Arms Warmonger.

Among much of society, whether Rittenhouse is guilty or not guilty won’t change anyone’s minds about guns, he said.

“What’s dangerous is he’s going to become a mascot or a martyr,” Busse added. “Every time there’s a Rittenhouse, it moves the window of what’s acceptable. I think Rittenhouse has moved the window.”

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

151 COMMENTS

  5. “two people died and one person was injured for no good reason.”
    No, 2 died and 1 was injured because they had it coming when they picked what they mistakenly thought was the softest intended-victim on the street to try to get a free rifle from. Rittenhouse had more right to be there (being asked to help defend property) than the cockroaches that swarmed in to burn, riot, and loot.

    “It’s keys, phone, wallet, gun.”
    This. every day. Detroit taught me that you may need all those items in a hurry when your day turns upside down.
    I married into a polish family, and they like to make trays one of their comfort foods, pronounced kind of like “gawumpkis”
    I say it to myself every morning before I walk out the door – gun wallet money phone keys and knife.
    Yes, I always keep some money is in a different pocket than my wallet. My wallet usually has IDs and credit cards only, small bills in one pocket I go in and out of, large bills stashed in a different pocket. That way i could get pickpocketed twice (not likely even once) and still have some kind of way to get needed items.
    And I don’t really need to remind myself about keys… but since i’m pluralizing the “-kis” k+k, keys+knife

    • a good galumpki is second only to a quality kreplach.
      keep your matzoh ball, give me meat filled dumplings.

    • “Rittenhouse had more right to be there (being asked to help defend property)“

      And what property owner in Kenosha asked Rittenhouse to defend his property?

      • Can you prove that he and his compatriots weren’t asked? I guess you have a problem with the defense of property when ANTIFA thugs and BLM slime burn loot and murder.

        • Proof? Why would I need proof?

          As a deeply avowed and practicing Marxist I recognize Antifa as very “useful”.

          BLM is whatever.

        • miner49er, Seems you made the accusation. That is why you have to provide proof. The fact is you are an enemy of the people of the USA. Propaganda is your stock in trade.

        • “Seems you made the accusation. That is why you have to provide proof.“

          “Can you prove that he and his compatriots weren’t asked?”

          Wrong, you made the claim Kyle was asked to “defend property” so the burden of proof is upon you.

          I make no claim, I merely stated I do not believe your claim that Kyle was asked by a property owner in Kenosha to defend their property.

          What source or information do you have to substantiate your claim that Kyle was asked by a property owner in Kenosha to defend their property?

      • MIner49er, Show me where I asked that question. You most certainly did make that claim when you posed this question. Here is cut and pasted:
        Miner49er November 15, 2021 At 09:49
        “Rittenhouse had more right to be there (being asked to help defend property)“

        And what property owner in Kenosha asked Rittenhouse to defend his property?

        Now would you like to clear up your lie?

        • Walt, it was ‘Detroit Dan’ who first made the claim, which you supported without evidence:

          “Dan from Detroit
          November 14, 2021 At 13:26
          “two people died and one person was injured for no good reason.”
          No, 2 died and 1 was injured because they had it coming when they picked what they mistakenly thought was the softest intended-victim on the street to try to get a free rifle from. Rittenhouse had more right to be there (being asked to help defend property) than the cockroaches that swarmed in to burn, riot, and loot.”

          Try to keep up with the thread that you are commenting on, you will be much less puzzled.

          Again, what evidence can any of you cite to support your claim that Kyle was invited by a Kenosha property owner to come to Kenosha to “defend property”?

        • Miner49er, You just ducked my question.
          In fact you support Dan from Detroit, don’t you and his opinion? I did not say he was “invited by a Kenosha property owner”. When anarchy is ruling and ruining a city etc, we all have the OBLIGATION to defend the property of others.
          You are your ANTIFA thugs made him go to Kenosha. His own words show he went there not just with his AR but with medical first aid equipment as well. This case is purely a matter of SELF DEFENSE. Your ANTIFA thugs attacked him. He had and has every right to possess a firearm for his own defense. Your ANTIFA buddies made that necessary. One of your ANTIFA thugs was armed and POINTED a pistol at Rittenhouse.

    • But it wasn’t self defense. Rittenhouse quite literally couldn’t be engaged in self defense because he’s not capable of such an action.

      See, the people who got shot were seeking and actively working towards utopia. Utopia, by definition, is pure good. So, the people who got shot were seeking and working towards pure good. Because what they seek is pure good nothing they do in attempting to attain that goal can be anything other than pure good because PURE good cannot be built from anything less than pure good itself.

      Conversely, anything that in any way impedes the attainment of pure good is itself pure evil because, by definition, it impedes pure good and is therefore the polar opposite of pure good.

      Further, as everyone knows self defense is good.

      Therefore, by definition, Rittenhouse, being evil couldn’t be engaged in self defense and the people who were shot, being engaged in pure good, must be the ones who were engaged in this good thing that is self defense.

      Further still, anyone who doesn’t intrinsically and instinctively understand this argument is also evil. Therefore anyone who even has a question in their mind about either the guilt of Rittenhouse or the benevolence (dare I say, piety) of his victims is themself evil.

      To say otherwise is akin to saying that Satan saves souls or God’s a right evil bastard Himself.

      It’s a very simple test. You either unwaveringly support the people who got shot from the jump with zero questions or you’re evil. (Yes, your post here makes you evil).

      It’s really all quite logical provided you’ve bought into the base assumption of the belief system. In that regard it’s like old-school Catholic philosophy, if you accept the base premise the rest of it is inarguable. If you don’t accept the base assumption then you’re a heretic and deserving of punishment. Hell, even the faithful have to constantly engage in purifying penance for their transgressions.

      • strych9, Regret to inform you but it was SELF DEFENSE. You see, the young man was beaten by ANTIFA thugs. Then they tried to take his AR-15. He was surely in fear for his life and had every right to protect himself against the deadly physical force being used against him. I would suggest that you want the vids of the incident. If you can conclude it was other tan self defense youa re delusional. To you Leftists, anyone who possessed a firearm is bad. You people don’t believe in the right of self defense which is a hallmark of our republic enshrined in the 2nd Amendment and the Heller, McDOnald ans Wren decisions. You might want to read them. You might want to apply some of your logic to the facts of the case. I guess you think (sic) that Rittenhouse should have allowed himself to be beaten to death? No, sir (or madam), it is you and your kind that are evil and a threat to the Republic.

        • haha hah, oh man whooshygaga.
          “To you Leftists…”
          congrats, strych. you have singlehandedly outed this outspoken newcomer as fully and completely tone deaf.
          wally baby, you may want to find a reference point.

        • tsbhoa.p.jr Is English your second language? What has been outed in you and strych9’s socialist agenda. I have a hunch you would be more more at home in the European Union rather than the USA.

        • “What has been outed in you and strych9’s socialist agenda.”

          Wow, the really fucked up part here is that you’re undoubtedly smoothbrained enough to believe that this is true.

          And I wasn’t even trying to troll. Damn.

        • Vhyrus No, I am not your Binger. And the trial was still going on when I typed the above.
          Apparently you are one of those who would strip us of our RIGHT to self defense.

        • That’s the answer guide to Chapter 1 quiz on how your enemy’s philosophy. I was even nice enough to offer it to you complete with an analogy to historical religious philosophy so the whole thing’s easier to understand.

          Sadly, even with the entire answer key in hand, you just failed the quiz.

      • strch9, NOT in your wildest dreams. I know what you are and that is what scares you the most, right Lefty? Clearly you know very little about the right to self defense if anything at all.
        He failed the quiz? Hey, you don’t even know the questions.

  8. Yesterday when we left the range we stopped for something to eat at a local restaurant that serves great food, nice portions, and reasonable prices. Lots of gun people stop there on the way to or from the range, its like 200 feet from the range entrance. Its also right down the road from the interstate so its gets a lot of interstate traffic and yesterday was no different.

    We over heard an out of town couple in a sort of almost heated disagreement with a guy with a gun who had like us, and on the way to the range, stopped for something to eat. He had come in and sat in the booth in front of them in a row of booths. They saw the gun when he passed going to his booth and asked him if he would sit someplace else and said they were not comfortable with the gun being so close to them. So the guy says “sorry, I’ll move” (personally I would not have done that, but i’m not him) and he did move to a table but the table was adjacent the booth they were in and asked them “Ok now?”. Of course they were not happy and started disagreeing with his choice and complaining some to a waitress who had come over to take the guys order and started sort of trying to argue with him raising their voices a little. The guy asked them to leave him alone and didn’t say anything else to them, then they said it – “You going to shoot us like that Rittenhouse kid did to those people?” The waitress told them “ya’ll need to look around and realize where you are. Over half the people in here right now are armed, I’m armed. You are completely safe here, no one is going to hurt you.” They shut up, ate their meal, and left.

    Personally, as a gun owner, I don’t want Kyle Rittenhouse to be the face of gun owners in America. Too much baggage no matter the outcome.

    • I have no problem with Rittenhouse becoming one of the many icons, but I personally identify more with the McCloskeys, in the sense that the mob came to their (private and gated) street and disturbed them during dinner. The mob was actually dumb enough to record and livestream themselves audibly threatening to take the guns, kill the McCloskeys, and burn their house down.

      I don’t think Mr. and Mrs. Gun Owner identify so much with actively going to a nearby town and patrolling to keep it safe, but I do think they identify much more with standing their ground in front of their own home.

      • And u just pointed out one of the main problems. The general public is going to see him as a kid with a gun that makes bad decisions s to have the gun to begin with knowing he was under age and then purposely going to the area under some pretense of “patrolling” for which he had no experience, and no authority, and was not trained, and was illegally in possession of the gun and knew it. in other words a person with a gun that will wilfully violate the law and can’t make good decisions so how can he be trusted with a deadly weapon?

      • I Hax A Question, That might well be your preference, but riots have a tendency to spread like herpes. You sometimes have to draw the line somewhere.

        • this isn’t about the riots, this is about Kyle Rittenhouse and his actions. The riot is not on trial here.

          I’m well aware of what riots do. I’ve been trapped in a few. Instead of staying in the riot I got out.

          When you are armed with a weapon, as much as you’d like to stand your ground and claim you have a legal right to be where you are – there is in the details for carrying that forearm and use of deadly force in ALL 50 states a responsibility to NOT intentionally put your self where the danger threat is if that danger threat is not imminent (or proximate to become imminent) to you at the time. You have a responsibility to NOT go into the area where the danger may be to “patrol” unless duly authorized to do so in law or by a lawful authority. When you arm yourself its assumed in law you have the intent to use deadly force, you can’t say “in case I needed to defend myself because I went to the area where I knew there could be a danger of imminent threat” – no, period, you can say “In case the danger of threat is imminent to me because it came to me”. If you purposely put your self in the situation where deadly force application becomes necessary for your protection without reason (e.g. protecting the live of another to which a specific imminent threat exists) its called “pursuing danger” and that is not a good thing to have happen if you are claiming self-defense.

          Rittenhouse basically says he went to “patrol” to help people and took his rifle for protection. Having been on a jury in a self defense case I can tell you right now one of the biggest red flags to the jury is going to be the same thing that’s in every jury instruction in every state and that is the concept of not purposely putting yourself where the danger of threat is and that’s what the general public is going to see as a really bad decision and “pursuing danger” – the general public is afraid of people who would take a gun and go out “pursuing danger” when no imminent threat can be justified to “pursue” that danger, its more generally called “looking for an excuse to shoot someone” and its part of the very narrative that gun-control interests have been pushing.

          No matter the outcome from this, that baggage of the appearance of Rittenhouse “pursuing danger” is going to remain and gun control and the general public are going to see it as “looking for an excuse to shoot someone” by a kid who willfully violated the law by having a firearm when he was underage and knew he could not legally have it – a person with a gun who makes bad decisions, violates the law, and was “looking for an excuse to shoot someone”.

          I hate the idea that Rittenhouse has become the face of gun owners.

        • “a person with a gun who makes bad decisions, violates the law, and was “looking for an excuse to shoot someone”.”

          should have been

          … a person with a gun who makes bad decisions, violates the law, and was “looking for an excuse to shoot someone” is what the general public is going to see even if Kyle is acquitted and if not acquitted they will see the same thing except he will also be a murderer.

        • .40 cal Booger, That is not true. Cite any law where it says that you cannot place yourself in jeopardy. There is nothing in the law anywhere that I know of that says you can’t stand and protect your property. As a mater of fact you have the right to defend property and do not have to retreat if deadly physical force is posed against you. IN some states, New York being one, you have a “duty to retreat if possible”. However in the case of Rittenhouse, he was cornered, being beaten and had a gun pointed at him. All of which constitute deadly physical force being used against him, which would negate his “duty to retreat”. Personally, I dont’ give a rat’s behind what the media considers him.

        • @Walter E Beverly III

          You misunderstand.

          1. You can place yourself in jeopardy IF the threat is imminent to you or another. I kind of indicated that. The threat here for Kyle did not become imminent until he went to where the threat was. Its two different things.

          2. You can not pre-suppose a threat might exist then go to where that threat does or may exist and then claim you being there was to act in self-defense. Its “pursuing danger” I kind of indicated this too.

          3. There is only one state in the U.S. where you have a legal right to “defend” property with deadly force, and that’s Texas. In Texas you can use deadly force to defend property when there’s no other way to protect or recapture property even in situations involving simple theft or criminal mischief, but you can only do it at night.

          3. Protecting property is different from defending property. In “protecting” you are acting as a deterrent to threats to the property in the form of threats that beco9me imminent to you personally. In defending you are actively seeking threats against the property and taking preemptive action to stop the threat before it can reach the property. In Wisconsin its is absolutely against the law to have or use deadly force means to protect or defend property, unless the threat against that property also poses an imminent threat to you (“comes to you”). The reasoning of Kyle going to protect a car dealership is very flawed to begin with, its a kids unrealistic view of the world – the white knight riding in to protect the kingdom.

          4. You can not, in any state, “pursue danger” with deadly force means when no imminent threat can be justified to “pursue” that danger when you start the pursuit, its more generally called “looking for an excuse to shoot someone”. If you go to some place where a danger might exist, like out in general public, that’s different from saying you are going to specific place and taking a gun because you know a threat exists there. You also can not “entice” the threat to be imminent to you.

          I wasn’t talking about what happened once he got there. I was talking about his reasoning for going was not sound. As part of his defense he said he went with his friend to protect a car dealership – here’s the thing about that, in all 50 states that property has to be yours and the car dealership did not belong to Kyle.

          He had a “duty” to NOT be there to begin with while carrying a gun because he was underage to “open carry” a gun in general public situations because he could not legally posses the gun. Legally, you can’t grab a gun and purposely go into a riot area to protect property that’s not yours while claiming the gun is to protect you against a threat in the area. As much as people want to think “no duty to retreat” and “stand your ground” – the law in all 50 states still expects a person with a gun to not go looking for trouble, and in his testimony Kyle expected that trouble to happen and knew that trouble was there. Its going to complicate your self-defense claim tremendously. You can not in all states, except in Texas and then in limited situations, “defend” property with deadly force. There are overall very few places where you can go to the threat, one being your home and other places that count as extensions to your domicile (e.g. your car) unless the threat is imminent or proximate imminent to you or another.

          Its not about stand your ground of duty to retreat – those apply if the threat comes to you in an imminent or proximate to be imminent manner. They do not apply if you go to where the threat is because you are no longer standing your ground then but the threat is imminent or proximate to be imminent to you. No duty to retreat does not mean a right to “advance” to an area where a threat exists if that threat is not imminent or proximate to be imminent to you.

          He said he knew there was a threat in the riot area by saying that’s why he took his gun for protection. Its not like he was going out in general public where a threat might come to you. He went to the threat, a threat that would not have been realized to him personally had he not done that.

          While there, yes, self defense when the threat was realized because he went there. But the stigma is still a kid who willfully violated the law by having a firearm when he was underage and knew he could not legally have it – a person with a gun who makes bad decisions, violates the law, and was “looking for an excuse to shoot someone”.

        • .40 cal Booger, On the contrary. You have not provided any citation of the law you have alleged. As there were riots in progress in Kenosha and property was in “imminent danger” anyone and everyone has the ight to protect that property by any reasonable means necessary.
          You do not have to pre-suppose. The fact is that the threats of danger to the community were very real due to the rioting and burning, looting, etc. Again, you have failed to cite the law in any state where you do not have the right to defend property. IN fact in all states you have the right to defend any property where arson , destruction is imminent. Rioting, buring, and looting covers that quite nicely. You have not in any case cited any such laws you allude to.

    • Hat’s off to ehat Waitress. SHE nows what’s up, and did a great job of “gently informing” her customers of the reality in that time and place. “Half the people in here are armed, and I am armed”…. BOOM.
      Sick how those twisted folks were convinded the armed guy was gonna shoot them then and there. Behave yourself, and nobody will shoot yuo unless its one of thost bad guys who never abide by the contrlling antigun laws.

      I hope they wet their pants badly enough to make their car smell bad for a few days. Hoplophobia, anyone? Pthetic.

    • I gotta tell my story:

      Manhattan Island, I stopped to get a Mickey D burger on the way out of town. Young black guy in front of me fished in his pockets, pulled out some cash – and DROPPED an effin PISTOL on the floor! My arse hole puckered up, but the youngster quickly and calmly scooped the weapon up, put it back in his pocket.

      Day and a half later, I stopped for breakfast in Lubbock, Tx. Something like 2/3 of the vehicles in the lot had rifles, shotguns, or both visible, either in racks, or lying in back seats. Walked inside, and something like 1 in 5 customers were visibly armed with a handgun. And, I felt zero fear or apprehension.

      What a difference 1800 miles and reasonable laws make.

  9. Why do these articles quote “former executives” of gun companies that no longer believe in guns? That or former sheriffs that do not believe in gun ownership.

  10. Was this written by some CNN clown, or the prosecution at the Rittenhouse trial?
    Unintentionally pointed his pistol at Rittenhouse? Where did TTAG dig up this nitwit?

      • Did READ! Don’t ASSUME, they added that info after my comment prior to the add in the title and change from TTAG Contributor that info was unavailable.

  11. How many windows got moved by the fascist SS/antifa scum that was looting and burning all across America?

    Windows aren’t what got moved. Guns did. Millions of them. How many more Kyle’s are looking out their windows waiting for the next time the storm troopers want to act out?

    • “How many more Kyle’s are looking out their windows waiting for the next time“

      Klye was not “waiting by the window”, Kyle’s mommy drove him to the riots in Kenosha as if she was taking him to a play date.

      Kyle knew exactly what was going on in Kenosha, and he engaged in his continuing criminal enterprise involving the federal felony of strawman purchasing and possessing an illegally obtained MSR. As a result of this federal felony, he was illegally armed when he shot three people at the riots he purposefully attended in direct violation of a public curfew.

      Many states have statutes that charge individuals with murder if anyone is killed during the commission of another crime.

      And yes, high school drop out, cop wannabe, first person shooter video game fan, incel and Mom’s basement dweller Kyle Rittenhouse is indeed the face of many American gun owners.

      • In fair disclosure I used to be an “incel” so I know what I’m talking about.

        That is until I discovered Grandma’s Chicken Coup out back…

        Now Miner49er gets some lov’in every night.

      • He was in violation of the same curfew as the criminal SS/antifa folks he defended himself against? And I’m hearing the judge dropped the illegal possession charge against him.

        What scares you the most, miner? The fact that folks are finally waking up and fighting back against you rampaging SS wannabes or the fact that mid terms are approaching and the end is in sight for this level of insanity?

  13. Fuck all of them. They’re responsible for the riots and bedlam. They justify it. Their mayors are the ones who prohibited the police from doing their job to protect the lives and property of law abiding citizens. These extremist left wingers are incensed that not everyone is willing to sit back and let them burn, loot, and riot with impunity. Sorry, just prattling on and on about “mostly peaceful protests” and justifying everything because of “racial injustice” or “social justice” doesn’t cut it. The Left is conducting a Civil War RIGHT NOW and they squeal like the fascist pigs they are when anyone dares confront them.

    Whether it’s Koreans on rooftops or Kyle Rittenhouse taking to the streets, good people are going to fill the vacuum left by governments that refuse to enforce laws against riot and mayhem. These corrupt left wing mayors and DAs have proven they have no interest in protecting law abiding, tax paying citizens – only their damned Antifa/BLM supporters.

    Self defense is a natural right. In the end, it’s up to each of us to protect ourselves and our family.

    • This drivel is “perhaps” the worst article ever published on TTAG. Puh-leeze quit using AP shills as a “source”.I didn’t see a protest. I saw lowlife pervert felons looting and burning. Kyle does not represent me or any other gun owner. He did damn well as a 17year old kid(still doubt the tiny 556/223?). Free KYLE!

      • speaking of felons, that Gross Kerutz critter WAS a felon in possession of his handgun, the very one he carefully aimed at Kyle’s head from a distance of three feet. He had just moments ago helped set a dumpster on fire then push it up net to a building to try and burn down the building. Kyle WOULD have been justified had he USED that AR typr rifle to hold these dirtbags accuntable.

    • That whole storyline about “you can’t shoot someone to protect property”? Leftards starting fires wouldn’t last long around here, especially in the summer months.

  14. “they also think he had no business being there, and that “two people died and one person was injured for no good reason.”

    Those pedophiles and rioters had no business being there.

  15. Rittenhouse and his mother were racists and the con job that he was there to protect property is an insult to any educated person. Rittenhouse was also a criminal who conned his sisters boy friend into buying him a weapon that was illegal for him to own and to carry to a protest to use to spray down the crowd with a deadly reign of fire.

    At the very least he will be banned from owning any firearms for life and he may get convicted on second degree murder charges that should have given him a long prison sentence but he has a racist judge that was caught making racist jokes so his prison sentence will probably be short. The racist judge should have been thrown off of the case as it resulted in an unfair trial that was prejudiced against the victims of the Rittenhouse murderous rampage.

    The face of America sees an assault rifle toting racist criminal and con man encouraged by his racist demented mother who deliberately put her son in harms way by taking him to a protest about police murder of a minority by some very angry people so he could incite violence which is what he was looking for. In other words the criminal con man Rittenhouse went looking for a fight and ended up in one.

    This whole incident showed the darker side of the U.S. with a Far Right racist who was celebrating the police brutality and murder of a minority. Rittenhouse and his deranged racist mother were longing for a return to lynching’s of minorities and giving the police the right to murder minorities to “keep them in their place” so the White people could hang on to their white privilege.

    If anything the Rittenhouse mass murder only convinced the average American that every time that there is mass murder it is usually committed by a far right racist nut case using a high power assault rifle. The rifle of choice for racists, psycho’s. criminals and Far Right nut cases.

      • Apparently you do not get dacian’s “The Booby Hatch” news letter because if you did you would have known this.

      • Come on do I have to spell it out for you so even a 5th grader can understand their reasons for Rittenhouse’s being there. The protests were about police brutality and the murder of a minority. That is why Rittenhouse’s mother put her son up to going their to support the Cops right to “put minorities in their place” and the right to execute them without trial.

        • Hey, dumbass, the rapist Blake that was the cause célèbre of the Kenosha riots? He wasn’t killed. It’s blatantly obvious you’re just a troll with no ability to present facts but if you can’t even get this one simple fact right please burn your computer.

        • dacian, There was NO REASON for these rioters to burn loot and pillage. I don’t give a hoot that some guy was shot. Have you ever heard of PEACEFUL demonstrations?

    • @dacian

      you give me the impression that your closest friends are a “Speak & Spell’ and a Ken doll without a head.

    • Scraping away all of your BS….As an American Citizen I have the Right to be there, riot or not. Paraphrasing here but..

      Did 1st now dead guy chase Kyle? What does the current self-defense laws say about disengaging from a situation? Who was chasing who?

      Did 2nd dead guy chase Kyle and hit him with a skateboard? Deadly force and grave bodily harm right there.

      Did 3rd non-bicep having guy chase Kyle while a felon with a hand gun?

      Yep, yep, and yep. Deadly force is acceptable in all three instances. This is a political show trial.

      • And by the way getting hit with a skate board will not convince a jury you had the right to use deadly force.

        • “..And by the way getting hit with a skate board will not convince a jury you had the right to use deadly force….”

          The Jury gets educated by the defense to “What I know” and since I have read and own a copy of Spitz and Fishers ‘Medicolegal Investigation of Death’ they jury gets to see it.

          Human death happens in all kinds of imaginative ways….and yep it would be too easy to convince the jury of brain damage/concussion/death by skateboard.

        • Have you ever, in your life, even picked up a skateboard? It’s much heavier than an unweighted billy club, or nightstick. Probably a little heavier than a weighted stick. Longer than most nightsticks. Do you know that a nightstick can kill you deader than a door nail in one swing? Just one swing, and I can cave your head in, or break your neck, or crush your throat. It all depends on how you’re standing, how I’m standing, and how I decide to swing the club, but some critical part of your anatomy is exposed. That skateboard is no less deadly when someone decides to use it as a weapon. Did you notice that Huber swung it edgewise, into Kyle’s neck? Huber knew what he was doing, he just hadn’t practiced enough, or misjudged his distance, or maybe the lighting threw him off.

          Huber deserved what he got. Unfortunately, he died too quickly. He didn’t suffer much at all.

    • Dacian, I’m curious. Did your mama have any kids that lived? Did your grandmothers have any kids that lived? You have one serious genetic deficiency, dude.

      I know it’s not your fault that you have to sit around the mental hospital all day. But, do you really have to watch CNN all day, and barf up the talking points when you’re online?

    • I think if Kyle was racist he wouldn’t have gone to protect Sal&Saul’s car lot.
      I do not think he would have been removing graffiti with the N word in it.
      I do not think he would have ask a person not of his breed if they needed medical help.
      Keep pushing racism however.
      A divided United States.

    • “spray down the crowd with a deadly reign of fire”

      Yep, little d is a troll who’s been having it all on with all you folks, just as I thought.

      That rattling sound is him jerking all of y’all’s chains, how entertaining!

      • Oh turns out the rattling sound is actually coming from the corner over there.

        I’m in my fort in grandmama’s basement.

        What did I leave over there?

  16. Would it really be so hard for them to get a rational adult to proofread their articles before they’re published? It would save them from making fools of themselves like this.

    • Journalism was basically dead a decade (maybe longer) ago and infotainment is what grew from the rotted corpse. The same people that gleefully told coal minors to “learn to code” complained of bullying when it was sent back at them when thousands of their jobs dried up. I heard rumors that some of the spending bill may support “local media companies” of over a thousand people so the typical disinfo alphabet soup may limp on a bit longer.

  17. If Rittenhouse is the face of gun ownership, that what happens to the OFWG narrative? Dammit, I wish the leftards would get their messaging straight. It’s getting difficult to catch up.

    • I would love to see acquittal on all charges just to watch the MSM loose their collective minds. Would also love to see DJT win election in a huge real landslide as well.

      Kyle portrayed as a baby OFWG?

      Progressive, liberal, leftist, Democrat meltdowns make me smile!

  20. “Every time there’s a Rittenhouse, it moves the window of what’s acceptable. I think Rittenhouse has moved the window.”

    Well, hopefully there will be more Rittenhouses!

  22. “Accidentally pointed his pistol at Rittenhouse.” Hahahahahaha!

    Wasn’t there and knows ZERO about safe gun handing but brazenly concludes pointing this gun was “accidental.” What a piece of work this writer is.

  23. This is really a moment to ponder here. Rioting breaks out in your town. Arson and looting soon breaks out also. You own several car lots and the mobs target them. The mayor orders the police to stand down. Police and fire protection for your neighborhood is withdrawn but they law says you that you are not allowed to defend your own property. You are required by law to stand back and observe your proper be destroyed or stolen.

      • Nonlethal force means nothing when the mob is rampaging in the street. Witness Portland, Ore all of last summer. The cops trapped in the Federal Building should have opened up with volley fire, and cleared the streets. The morticians would have cleaned up soon enough.

    • That don’t happen in MS. The law here says I can shoot any SOB who is in the process of committing a Felony against me or my property, or in the defense of another person and their property. And it has been tested a few times.

      • You want so much, so very much, for there to be some difference between you and dacian.

        There isn’t. You both serve the same cause and are just too damn stupid to see it. If you are the master race, count me out.

  28. quote: “the killing of George Floyd, a black man, by a white police officer in Minneapolis”

    this creature needs to learn how to REPORT the news, not make it up. Autopsy prved Floyd was notp [hysically harmed in an way, and that Officer Chaivin’s actioins did NOT cause his death. It also proved that Floyd killed himself by stuffing a big watd of fentanly up his bunghole. THAT drug is what killed him. He’d tried that once before, but failed that attemt, too. Ciurt would not allow that evidence to be brought out in Cahvin’s “trial”.
    Blind Mother Justice on a pile lf manure.

    • Sorry, Tionico. I’m very much opposed to rioters, looters, and a lot of what BLM stands for. I despise Antifa. But Chauvin demonstrated a callous disregard for a person in his custody, contributing to that person’s death. Chauvin is no hero of mine – he can sit in prison for awhile, and start appealing his sentence when he gets around to it. I think his sentence is a bit lengthy, but he’s a criminal all the same.

      As for the silly rat bastards who killed Breonna, they need to sit in prison for a decade or more. Unfortunately, they’ve been let off the hook.

  29. I just do not like this articles that do nothing and no one does a rebuttal of them to set things straight. It is now know that Grosskreutz was carrying a concealed pistol illegally with an expired concealed carry license, but the media has failed to report. Has anyone read or heard about what has happened to Jacob Blake? No, we have not. The crimes that Jacob Blake committed that day include breaking into a home, molestation/rape of a women, child abduction, resisting arrest, and pulling a weapon on a police officer. When is Jacob Blake going to answer for his crimes? The media is blind still to this. I guess Jacob Blake will get a medal from Biden and Harris when this is over.

    • I think you are a little off on the Jacob Blake case.

      “Has anyone read or heard about what has happened to Jacob Blake? No, we have not. ”

      The whole world has heard about what happened to Jacob Blake. You been living under a rock?

      On August 23, 2020, Jacob Blake was shot by police officer Rusten Sheskey in the back four times and the side three times when Blake began to turn towards the officer, Blake was armed with a knife. During the encounter Blake was tasered by two officers but it failed to help them restrain him. The officer said he was in fear of being stabbed. If it had been me I would have shot Blake too if he came at me with a knife.

      The crimes Blake committed did not happen that day. There was a warrant out for his arrest from July, for charges of third-degree sexual assault, trespassing, and disorderly conduct in connection with domestic abuse.

      The officers involved in the shooting were not charged. A lot of people got upset about them not being charged preferring instead to ignore that Blake was a known violent person armed with a knife coming towards an officer and they prefer to ignore that all measures less than deadly force, including tasering, were first attempted to curb his violence and stop him. Blake left the officer no other choice by his actions. To these people who ignore these facts it was a racial thing, a black man being shot by police intentionally because he was black, but that’s not what happened.

      Blake did not face any new charges, and the charges of sexual assault and trespassing were dropped in exchange for Blake pleading guilty to two misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct for which he was sentenced to two years of probation.

      In the eyes of the law, Blake did answer for his crimes.

  30. The devolution of civil rights into a team sport complete with mascots doesn’t really bode well for the future.

    But at least they’re not [yet] calling him the white face of black rifle supremacy.

    • “The devolution of civil rights into a team sport complete with mascots doesn’t really bode well for the future.”

      That’s rich coming from someone who said Christians should follow government orders, “because their bible says so”, and stay home and not go to Easter services. You made yourself part of the civil rights devolution over a year ago. And that was the beginning of the citizen’s loss of civil rights when this “plandemic” began. And it will lead to a “national divorce”. Hopefully we can go our separate ways peacefully.

      But I do know you still support the KKK and Nazi civil rights. And I do too. I just want everyone to be able to open carry long guns when they come by. As I remember you said open carry “should not be intimidating”. Really???

      • “Hopefully we can go our separate ways peacefully”

        the ones behind this see you as their property. they’ll never let you go, because that would harm their material wealth and thus their righteous standing. they will pursue you to the ends of the earth demanding your submission and slavery, or your elimination otherwise.

        • It’s not really about their material wealth.

          It’s the symbology of allowing you to walk away that’s unacceptable.

          The commies in the USSR didn’t say “Workers of Russia unite!” specifically because Leftist thought is, by its base nature, aggressively expansionist. It cannot allow any dissent internal or external because that undermines the core nature of the the thought process.

          For all their complaints about “hierarchy” the one thing Lefties want more than anything is power, which is to say, to be on top of the hierarchy.

      • “That’s rich coming from someone who said Christians should follow government orders, “because their bible says so”… As I remember you said open carry “should not be intimidating”.

        Are you and Mr. Beverly currently engaged in a contest to make up the most outrageous shit I’ve never said or is your brain just broken?

  31. The Left is terrified that a child. Was the one who fought back using deadly force. Not an adult. Because the left has worked for decades to destroy the 2A education and rifle teams in the public school systems.

    And there are individuals in the “gun community” who hate him because he wanted to become a police officer. And these gun owners have an irrational hatred of the police.

    And at the same time these hateful gun owners are against the open carry of long guns. They are really against messy freedom.

    Because being a vigilante (acting as law enforcement, when no reliable law enforcement is around) is something they are against.

  32. Remind everyone. Kyle had a medical kit as well as his rifle. And he rendered First Aid to at least one person. The press will leave that part out.

  33. The only thing I haven’t heard is why Kyle thought it was his responsibility to clean graffiti, provide first aid, or guard a business.

    Could it be his sense of community responsibility is much higher than most Americans?

    We do know the adults responsible for stopping the rioters/arsonists and keeping real protesters_ordinary citizens safe, did not do their job. If they left the city on its own, or parts of it, then unlike any totalitarian country, the right to protect oneself, family, community and livelihood falls on the individuals (where SCOTUS has ruled the police do not have a specific duty to protect individuals).

  34. With Kyle, our right to self defense and a fair trial lives or dies. There hasn’t been a case with more and more clear video evidence. If Kyle can’t get justice, nobody can.

  36. “Kyle Rittenhouse Will be the Face of Gun Owners in America”

    good. grosskreutz, huber, and rosenbaum are the face of the left.

  37. “He said Rittenhouse shot him in the arm right after Grosskreutz unintentionally pointed his pistol toward the 17-year-old”

    after he’d unintentionally drawn it, of course.

  38. Why is it some continue to describe what went on in Kenosha, WI as a protest? It was a violent riot. It needs to be called what it was. I have to agree with Allen Dershowitz that the charges against Rittenhouse should be thrown out and that he sue the media. Only when it gets really expensive will the Grey Lady and WaPo curb their more vicious leftist impulses.

    • “Why is it some continue to describe what went on in Kenosha, WI as a protest?”

      propaganda. meme propagation. context setting. overton window control. good think. manipulation. cattle herding.

      lying.

      “behold the power of the tongue. how small a rudder steers so great a ship.” they’ve always known this.

    • “sue the media. Only when it gets really expensive will the Grey Lady and WaPo curb”

      it won’t. you don’t understand. those operations are not businesses making a profit, they’re propaganda outlets subsidized to do what they do. sue ’em for a billion dollars, they won’t care, they’ll just get a freshly-printed subsidy bump to cover it.

  39. The charge of illegal possession of a firearms is false. Proven in court a few days ago. Get with it TTAG, also grammar and spelling. Otherwise great job…

  40. The charge of illegal possession of a firearm is false. Proven in court a few days ago. Get with it TTAG, also grammar and spelling. Otherwise great job…

    • No, he was illegally possessing a firearm that he had engaged in a federal felony of criminal conspiracy to execute a strawman purchase in direct violation of federal law.

      Kyle knew exactly what was going on in Kenosha, and he engaged in his continuing criminal enterprise involving the federal felony of strawman purchasing and possessing an illegally obtained MSR. As a result of this federal felony, he was illegally armed when he shot three people at the riots he purposefully attended in direct violation of a public curfew.

      Many states have statutes that charge individuals with murder if anyone is killed during the commission of another crime.

      And yes, high school drop out, cop wannabe, first person shooter video game fan, incel and Mom’s basement dweller Kyle Rittenhouse is indeed the face of many American gun owners.

      • Miner49er Regret to inform you but he was not “illegally in possession of a firearm.” To date the Feds have not charged him with anything.
        You are darn right he knew what was going on in Kenosha. Your ANTIFA thugs in concert with BLM thugs were looting, burning, and destroying property not theirs.
        A state can not use a Federal law which it is alleged he “violated” to claim “criminal enterprise”. Apparently you do not understand that term either. There also for your edification was NO curfew. That charge was thrown out but the judge.
        So what if he was a high school dropout. I don’t give a rat’s behind if he lived in his mother’s cellar or whatever. What has that to do with his guilt or innocence?
        Why is it you are so afraid of an inanimate object such as a gun?

  41. The only point of interest in the above is the short snippet describing an illegal Strawman Purchase of a gun by Rittenhouse, who was underage and gave money to a friend to buy the gun in the friends name. That’s a federal crime, if it happened that way.

    Does not change the fact that Rittenhouse acted in self defense and is innocent of the killings and wounding of his attackers.

    • But the killing and wounding of those other individuals occurred while Kyle was in illegal possession of an MSR that he had engaged in a criminal conspiracy to circumvent federal firearms laws in order to obtain.

      During the continuing commission of his federal felony, he killed two individuals, which may indeed qualify him for a murder rap.

Comments are closed.