We all know about the situation in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Part of the land of cheese and snow drifts taller than your car has devolved into chaos rather unsurprisingly…chaos and violent protests seem to be The Thing to Do lately. Most recently a 17-year-old purportedly present to assist others in protecting businesses fired on his assailants, killing two of them.
The Kenosha Police Chief, Daniel Miskinis, had something to say about that:
“Everybody involved was out after the curfew,” Miskinis said. “I’m not gonna make a great deal of it but the point is — the curfew’s in place to protect. Had persons not been out involved in violation of that, perhaps the situation that unfolded would not have happened.”
Kenosha set a curfew when they realized they were in a state of emergency thanks to all the violent protestors rioters. It’s been set at 8 pm to 7 am curfew. They’ve announced the hours nightly this week and it seems unlikely to change anytime soon given the current circumstances. The latest curfew now starts at 7PM and is in place through Sunday, August 30, 2020.
This seems like a fantastic time to bring up John Farnam’s rule, something I seem to be repeating endlessly this week: don’t go to stupid places with stupid people and do stupid things. Take that however you like in this admittedly complicated context.
Don’t want to get shot by someone trying to defend their life and property? Don’t break the curfew. Don’t riot and burn buildings. Don’t throw bricks at fleeing people, beat them with a skateboard, deliver potentially-fatal kicks while they’re on the ground, and then complain when you wake up dead.
Yes there are likely a lot of details missing from what went on in the Kyle Rittenhouse situation. It’s still fresh enough that I’m gathering details and waiting it out a little bit longer. Does it look like a justified shoot(s)? Yes, right now it does.
Should we ask why he crossed a state line with a rifle he couldn’t legally open carry at his age in Wisconsin? Probably. There are some who are appalled that we even wonder why he was there in the first place, but it’s a still legitimate question.
There’s a flip side to that question, though. We may be at the kind of tipping point where we’ll have an increasing number of armed citizens offer to help protect local businesses from rioting, looting, and burning to the ground is the logical response.
Defense of property is typically not something justifiable for self-defense. For example, if some guy is in your driveway stealing your car no, you should not exit your house to confront him, not unless your wife, husband, or child is in said car. But these are different times.
There are a lot of what-ifs, a great many unknowns, and a ludicrous amount of wildly bad behavior going down (and for the most part the people behaving badly get away with it scot free).
Still, it’s hard disagree with Chief Miskinis. He’s not wrong about rioters breaking curfew (and assaulting people).
What do you think? Should people from outside areas, even other states, be traveling there to defend businesses from rioters?