Kyle Rittenhouse abruptly departed the stage during an appearance at the University of Memphis on Wednesday, after he was confronted about comments made by Turning Point USA founder and president Charlie Kirk.

Rittenhouse was invited by the collegeā€™s Turning Point USA chapter to speak at the campus. However, the event was met with backlash from a number of students who objected to Rittenhouseā€™s presence.

The 21-year-old gained notoriety in August 2020 when, at the age of 17, heĀ shot and killed two menā€”Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, as well as injuring 26-year-old Gaige Grosskreutzā€”at a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

He said theĀ three shootings, carried out with a semi-automaticĀ AR-15-style firearm, were in self-defense. TheĀ Black Lives Matter (BLM) protest where the shootings took place was held afterĀ Jacob Blake, a Black man, was left paralyzed from the waist down after he was shot by a white police officer.

  • Flax@feddit.uk
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    13
    arrow-down
    8
    Ā·
    edit-2
    9 months ago

    I agree what he did was self defence. I also agree that he absolutely should not have been there in the first place. But it seemed him being there wasnā€™t that serious of a crime in the first place? (I know there was some illegality about him moving the weapon across state lines, but still)

    Heā€™s a moron. Unfortunately itā€™s not illegal to be a moron.

      • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        13
        arrow-down
        1
        Ā·
        9 months ago

        He put himself into harmā€™s way, intentionally, because of right-wing feels, and then claims ā€œself defenseā€. Carrying around a brandished weapon. What was he even doing there?

        It so happens that I do think self-defense is a valid defense. Under the right circumstances, of course. If, for instance, someone breaks into my house and I shoot them on the spot, I wonā€™t exactly be jumping up and down that I was pushed to kill someone (the manly macho posturing on this kind of scenario is one I always find curious; the fact of the matter is that any normal human being would not - and should not - come away mentally unscathed from ending another human beingā€™s life. If I were forced to end someoneā€™s life because they broke into my house, I imagine that is something Iā€™d wrestle with for the rest of my days), but I donā€™t think I should be charged with anything. However, if I go to a protest, waving around a firearm, and then feel ā€œthreatenedā€ by someone throwing a plastic bag at meā€¦

        • š“…‚š“„æ@c.im
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          Ā·
          9 months ago

          @CharlesDarwin Unfortunately the majority of marketing for small arms has gotten people jumping up and down at the thought of getting to kill a home intruder to the point that they were all cheering on a guy for shooting a pregnant woman and a guy running away.

      • Flax@feddit.uk
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        3
        Ā·
        9 months ago

        Thereā€™s morality and legality. I agree what he did was morally wrong and was murder in the biblical sense, but not the legal sense under U.S. law.

    • Katana314@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      3
      Ā·
      9 months ago

      When I boil down the very moment of his decision, I agree in the idea of self defense. But itā€™s also why Iā€™m generally opposed to filling an environment with high-lethality machines (be they guns, OR cars). Itā€™s naive to put confidence behind the minds in control of those objects. Highways, too, have a high rate of deaths; but they at least serve some useful purpose.