Rittenhouse's appearance at a university generated hostility from a number of students but he remained positive, saying it had been "a great event."

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 college’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 Rittenhouse’s presence.

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

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

  • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
    131·
    9 months ago

    I dunno about that. If you needlessly insert yourself into a dangerous situation and you kill people in self defense, there should be consequences.

    He went looking for violence. He found it.

    • aidan@lemmy.worldM
      43·
      9 months ago

      I don’t agree, that seems like it would be giving official journalists for example special privileges over citizen journalists. Give free reign to racists to lynch counter protestors, etc.

      • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
        2·
        9 months ago

        Well that’s what our legal system is for, to hash out individual cases. If someone’s going as a citizen journalist that’s very different from going to “keep the peace and shoot looters” and very intentionally bringing along long guns, vs pistols.

        • aidan@lemmy.worldM
          2·
          9 months ago

          He couldn’t legally own a pistol. He was determined to have legally possessed a rifle.

    • Samueru@lemmy.world
      12·
      9 months ago

      If I’m on my way to sell crack and I get attacked by some psycho do I lose my right of self defense?

      If I’m breaking curfew and I get attacked by some psycho do I lose my right of self defense?

      At some point you will see that it makes no sense, the legal system already forbids killing looters, so you want them to lose their right of self defense because you don’t like them.