Rittenhouse saga flames gun row
>>WISCONSIN: Kyle Rittenhouse’s acquittal on murder charges on Friday opened yet another front in America’s longstanding fight over gun rights: Is it acceptable for a teenager to bring an assault-style rifle to a protest?
Conservatives hailed Mr Rittenhouse as a hero for exercising his right to self-defence when he fatally shot two demonstrators and wounded a third who he said attacked him last year at a racial justice protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Gun control advocates warned the jury’s verdict could inspire a new wave of armed vigilantism, after Mr Rittenhouse — armed with an AR-15-style rifle — trav- elled in August 2020 from his Illinois home to Kenosha after demonstrations erupted following the police shooting of a black man, Jacob Blake.
Mr Rittenhouse’s decision, at age 17, to roam the streets of Kenosha toting a weapon in the name of protecting private property from rioters struck a nerve about how far gun rights should extend.
“As the tragic events on that night in August showed, a 17-year-old arming himself with an AR-15 makes no-one safer,” said top officials at Giffords, the gun safety group.
Within minutes of the verdict, the National Rifle Association posted on Twitter the language of the Second Amendment.
Brandon Lesco, who was Holding a “Free Kyle!” sign, said: “Someone needs to be there to defend the American towns that people try to burn. I respect that he was there, I respect he carried a weapon, he used it properly, he used it legally.”
The trial judge earlier this week had dismissed a misdemeanor charge against Mr Rittenhouse for illegally possessing the rifle he used in the shootings, citing vagueness in the law.