The year-long persecution of Kyle Rittenhouse is merely the latest and most compelling example of the multi-front war against the 2nd Amendment and every American citizen’s right to keep and bear arms. The pro-forma weapons charges with which Rittenhouse was charged were a triviality, and it is entirely possible that they were brought incorrectly (or maliciously).
The real charges were the conflation of legitimate self defense with first degree reckless homicide. The message is clear and unambiguous; do not use your legal weapons in self defense, because the full weight of the law will be brought to bear.
The McCloskeys got a taste of that in St. Louis last summer, courtesy of a Democrat apparatchik who was so over-the-top with her charges and political rhetoric that she was barred from prosecuting the case…but the case was not dropped!
The strategy is smart and chilling. It is clear that the multi-generational drive to demonize guns and the 2nd Amendment has failed in the short term, with constitutional carry becoming more and more popular and the civil unrest fomented in part by the enemies of the 2nd Amendment has driven an unprecedented interest in guns as a defense against that unrest, especially since the government has demonstrated conclusively that it cannot and will not protect its citizens from violence.
So the next step is to make any use of a gun in self defense so incredibly expensive and potentially life-altering that people will think long and hard before acting in their own or their community’s defense. Read Andrew Branca’s excellent book for a sense of how difficult the defense of even a clear-cut case of self defense can be.
But it is entirely possible that the rapid breakdown of our legitimate legal protections by the progressive elite will yield unintended consequences. Imagine the Kenosha riots, but instead of Kyle Rittenhouse doing what he did, there were several hidden shooters whose goals were less noble. Instead of merely protecting life and property, perhaps they would be playing a more punitive role…well hidden and almost impossible to to discover.
Rooftop Koreans indeed…
