WORDS: 1,088 — The long term effect of this trial goes way beyond the boy’s guilt or innocence, way beyond being Liberal or Conservative and taking sides on some variant of trying to live with the Second Amendment. This trial is a foretelling of one of many crossroads we will realize when we mix freedom of speech with the freedom to keep and bear arms… at the same event. Is that not a bit worrisome to you? It’s certainly very worrisome to me.
As of this writing the jury in the Rittenhouse case in Kenosha is still deliberating his innocence or guilt on a number of charges. But while the domestic world, via the media, seems caught up in the sensationalism of the personas of the individual players (from the judge down to the individual witnesses and the evidentiary videos), the politics applied to this case just follows the current Great Divide.  Liberals think Rittenhouse is guilty of murder and Conservatives think Rittenhouse is the real victim given he was just exercising his (“God-given”) right to defend himself. If this is where you are at, then you might want to consider the bigger picture here.
Personally, a part of me could care less about this boy’s innocence or guilt in his being accused… as long as the rule of law was followed. This case is definitely one of those where we might cringe with a measure of disgust as to what laws are on the books to allow this sort of thing to happen… but if we believe in our democracy as reflected in our Constitution then we cannot afford to invalidate democracy by selecting what laws we choose to follow. Like it or not, Wisconsin is an open carry state as it relates to weapons casually displayed in public. Based on that application of existing law, and video evidence presented, I tend to side that Rittenhouse is not guilty of what he is being accused of having done. But that by no means should suggest in any way that I don’t think anyone was responsible for the end result.. which is the killing of two and the injuring of another.
Rittenhouse (left) with fellow “protector”.
Everyone involved in the incident… all those shot by Rittenhouse, and Rittenhouse himself, all had a legal right to be there at that riot, and a right to be there carrying weapons (and a skateboard). Therefore the application of justice does not care as to the “why” each made a decision to 1. be at the riot, and, 2. bring a firearm. Yet I contend that those decisions did in fact contribute to setting in motion the course of events that evening. But, while that may very well be true on some moral level, again, the law does not recognize that matters in this case. Yet it certainly does matter when anticipating future incidents like this will be more commonplace in our future.
I can understand to some extent the desire of some people to want to leave the comfort of their homes and dive right into some civil unrest.. a flat out riot… and witness a confrontation with police or National Guard… that’s turned into a media event. But it’s often not wise to do so…. especially if one lacks a level of life’s maturity to make a sound decision beyond just the “it’s fun” reasoning.
A Story…
I was a high school junior in 1968, 17 years old… (same as Rittenhouse was in 2019) during the 1968 Democratic Convention held in Chicago. You can look up the history, but it was a extraordinarily contentious political atmosphere that spawned major anti-war civil unrest while the convention was going on. Then Mayor Daley instructed his police to bear down violently (literally batons clobbering heads) on the largely anti-war demonstrators creating, even to this day, one of the more violent demonstrations of applied police violence in modern history.. all in front of media cameras and to the angry awareness of the delegates inside the convention. As myself and my friends were watching this unfold on live TV from the comfort and safety of our far Northwest Side living rooms, I asked my parents if I could go with a couple buddies downtown to.. “witness”… the events firsthand. My mother immediately chimed up, “You’re not going anywhere near there, young man!”. In those days there was no “open carry”, much less a conceal & carry permit without an act of Congress. (I can only imagine the shock & awe if I had asked mom back then, “Hey mom… can I take grandpa’s old .22 rifle downtown to the convention demonstration at Grant Park and protect businesses from getting looted by hippies? In fact, because I have the First Aid merit badge I can even take a box of Band-Aid’s from the bathroom medicine cabinet and help people who are injured by the cops!)
Here’s What’s In Store For The Future
Someone deciding to show up at peaceful demonstration or civil unrest strolling down the street with their assault rifle over their shoulder (permitted by local law) confronts a looter with a gun… our “hero” shoots the looter, a bystander with a gun thinks the “hero” shooter is an active shooter and shoots back at him (or her)… then other people strolling by with guns begin shooting. Since no one is dressed other than random casual or in full play-SWAT or play-Army combat dress… there is no friend or foe recognition, and the gunfire gets random… and the situation, already bad, degrades even more.
Let’s go even further with all this. Militia group “A” shows up and meets militia group “B” in the street.. words are exchanged, ideologies are different… bullets start flying.. all in the name of patriotism, of course…. everyone carrying the American flag…. and all carried live by the media, around the world.
Let’s be clear on this… EVERYONE attending any demonstration, peaceful or violent, has an agenda. Maybe it’s peaceful… but also maybe it isn’t. Maybe it starts off peaceful… then deteriorates. Somehow someone walking around with a firearm does not suggest any sort of an image of peace. It DOES suggest to me… that you are there with your assault rifle in the hope that you will be able to defend yourself by killing another human being. Why do I think that? You have placed yourself smack in the middle of an unpredictable and potentially violent and explosive environment expressly because you have an agenda other than peaceful… and you think your weapon makes you safe.
Our Second Amendment at work. Are we proud yet?
I’m torn on who to believe is in the right, in this instance. I remember the adage of, “with Rights, come responsibilities”. Rittenhouse had a every Right to be in Kenosha….but he didn’t have a compelling reason….which calls into question his motive. His motive for being armed, when the only people in those days of protesting/rioting that were killed, were shot by him [IIRC]; the motive of lying about being an EMT; apparently violating not the letter, but the spirit of law which calls into question him possessing a weapon to begin with.
After hearing the testimonies, I can agree with one count of self defense, but not three. Based on the facts of the case, he became an active shooter at a certain point, protecting the Rights of other Citizens to neutralize the threat.
I really don’t view anyone else to be more pro-2A than I….but this seems to be a case of a teen enamored with firearms, and “looking cool”; also as evidence by his post-shooting carousing in a bar with Proud Boys.
Sleep tight Kenosha, it might be your last for a while.
From what I understand, Jeff.. and that’s even loose… is that it matters not why he was in Kenosha, especially is he has family living there. The entire issue being his guilt or not in killing and wounding the three. I don’t think motive for being there, or even in having a gun there, is in question. His motive is self-defense from the get go from when he turned himself into police. No attempt to flee or evade responsibility.
Now the first guy was self-defense. The other two individuals thought Rittenhouse was an active shooter having shot the first guy, and they attempted to stop him.. In their attempts to neutralize him Rittenhouse, in the heat of the moment in realizing his first act, interpreted their act as a personal threat against him not unlike the first guy. Honestly.. it’s a literal “fog” of confusion and complete misjudgment following the first guy being killed. The second two victims were thinking like they were trying to save the world from and active shooter. Very easily Rittenhouse could have felt the “entire crowd” was after him.
Honestly, given all the guns present it’s amazing someone didn’t off Rittenhouse.
Maybe the first is self-defense, the other death is involuntary manslaughter, and the wounding is a lesser charge. But I have no idea if those are even options for the jury.
The fact still remains… guns at demonstrations of any kind are just going to result in more accidental interpretations of intentions and bullets will fly.
I waited for the verdict to comment, as I suspected a ‘Not Guilty’ verdict.
It highlights the difference in living in a country like America, where someone can travel beteen states with an assault rifle, in the hope of killing people who are rioting. He had posted on social media that he was hoping to be able to shoot people, so his plea of self-defence would never have washed over here. He was not exactly protecting his on property from invasion, after all.
I don’t condone the rioters, but control of their behaviour should be left to the authorities, not to heavily-armed yahoos who think real people are the same as target practice. I appreciate that laws and attitudes are very different in your country, but I personally believe that this not guilty verdict is a black day in US history.
Best wishes, Pete.
I agree…. to your reasoning, Pete. And to the rest of the world this is just another embarrassment that the Wild West is returning to America, and the American culture of the gun.
Did you see the Christmas cards of those three Republican big wigs and their families where everyone in the picture was toting an automatic-looking weapon of some kind? It is not hard to imagine that everyone of those crazy right wing radical sobs nurture a fantasy of killing people. This is a sure sign that radical fascism is invading the minds of the far right in this country and if it isn’t nipped in the bud we are going to have our own Rightie-Reich right here in our own back yard, concentration camps for Liberals and the whole schmear.
Yep, John.. I did see those pics. How tactless and completely insensitive given it’s so close to the recent killings… beyond the fact that even on a “good” day these pics are sheer idiocy.
But do you believe that this kind of photo might be evidence of some dark underlying element of hatred with potential to erupt into violence … something seething in the minds of some Trump-supporting activist Conservatives … something that might indicate a deep seated desire to see our country become governed in a more strictly authoritarian manner?