Saying It Again: Kyle Rittenhouse Was No Hero….

Yet another push to portray Kyle Rittenhouse as a maligned, misunderstood hero.

Then 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse shot and killed two people, injured another, during the Kenosha, Wisconsin riots. He was eventually arrested after attempting to turn himself in - an attempt that was initially rejected by police.  He was charged with multiple felonies, at least one of which leading to a mandatory life sentence if convicted, in a show trial that was designed to fail.

He treated by many white people as a hero.  Is he, or is he a common criminal?

Let’s look at this.  

BTW, selling firearms, shipping them to FFLs in other states, is what I do for a living as an employee of a national FFL; the requirements listed here are those that were in force at the time.

* The MINIMUM age at which a firearm may be owned/possessed under FEDERAL LAW is 18, unless a minor is in the company of their PARENT or LEGAL GUARDIAN.  Federal law is VERY SPECIFIC on this this point; being with friends who are over 18 doesn’t meet federal standards.

* Rittenhouse was an Illinois resident.  In order to even LOOK at a firearm in Illinois OR ANY OTHER STATE he would need a firearm owners identification (FOID) card.  The minimum age to receive one is 21, unless his parent submitted a request on his behalf in writing; no record of that ever happening.  Again, in order to legally transport his firearm, he would need to be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian and possess a FOID card.

* Wisconsin law stipulates that a minor under 18 may not possess a dangerous weapon unless in the company of a parent.

* Wisconsin does not have stand your ground (SYG) laws.  SYG laws apply when one is out in public, and refer to one’s right to use force up to and including lethal to defend one’s self and those around them if in immanent danger of great bodily harm, rape, or death.

* His firearm was straw purchased (Rittenhouse gave his legal aged friend to make the purchase on his behalf) and stored for him in Wisconsin to get around Illinois law. 

*At 18, he was too young to be hired as armed security for ANY business.

So what does this all mean for Rittenhouse and his supporters?

An out-of-state minor in Wisconsin, without his parent or legal guardian, with a firearm not authorized for him to possess or transport by any applicable Illinois FOID card (which must still be carried/possessed while out of state) in the absence of a parent or legal guardian, killed two people and injured a third in a state that does not have or recognize stand your ground laws.  Even if Wisconsin DID have a stand your ground law, a claim is only valid if the claimant is not committing a crime.  Since Rittenhouse was a minor illegally in possession of a firearm, he has no such claim.  Further, the dealership he claims to have been hired to protect has denied doing so.

Kyle Rittenhouse isn’t a hero, he is a criminal, acquitted in a show trial that wasn’t even that good of a show.  He took two lives and injured a third.  Regardless of how you feel about the rioters, and for the record I believe they need to be held accountable for the damage they caused and the crimes they committed, Rittenhouse committed several crimes.  If he had been in his home when it was being attacked, or even a business owned by his parents, things would be far different, but he wasn’t.  To pretend otherwise is the height of hypocrisy.