A teenage boy from Illinois goes to a Black Lives Matter protest in Wisconsin. That night he shoots three people, killing two. He walked home from that protest alive and free. This boy later faces the consequences of his actions in court. He again walked out of his trial alive and free.

Kyle Rittenhouse is a 17 year old from Antioch, Illinois who killed two and injured one during a BLM protest in August 2020, surrounding the shooting of Jacob Blake by a police officer. Rittenhouse was taken into custody the next day and a year later, faced the court and was acquitted of all charges.

Rittenhouse appeared to be a part of a “militia” that was involved in these protests, but as peacekeepers. They were trying to protect the businesses nearby with shotguns and rifles. This doesn’t seem right; if they were really trying to keep peace, wouldn’t they discourage the shooting and violence of others?

Not only did Rittenhouse shoot three people, but he was also in possession of an automatic rifle at 17 years old. In both Illinois and Wisconsin, the legal age to own a firearm is 18. Some exceptions are teenagers using parents’ rifles for hunting, or at a shooting range. Rittenhouse says this gun wasn’t his, it was a friend’s. This shouldn’t fall under the “hunting exception”, as hunting is meant in terms of animals, not people.

Rittenhouse, who killed two men with an illegal weapon, is considered a national hero to some. The Congressional Medal of Honor is the legislative branch’s highest honor, presented to those who fight against United States enemies and threats. This is the same award Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) wants to present to Rittenhouse. She is attempting to get a bill passed through congress in favor of the Medal going to Rittenhouse. However, this representative voted against awarding the Medal of Honor to the officers that protected the Capitol Building on January 6. To some United States Congress members, a teenage boy who killed two people and injured one amid a protest for the BLM movement is more respectable and more of a hero than those who stood outside the nations’ Capitol building to protect those same senators and representatives from a violent mob.

Many, including Rittenhouse and the judge of his case, argue it was self defense. That Rittenhouse was truly threatened and felt resorting to murder was neccessary. However, Anthony Huber, one of the men he killed, came at him with a skateboard. Not a gun, or a  weapon, but a skateboard. Something that could have been taken, or wrestled away from Huber. But Rittenhouse fatally shot him. Joseph Rosenbaum, the other man who died due to Rittenhouse’s aggression, didn’t have anything that could have been considered a weapon. The man who was just injured had a gun, but there was no mention of him trying to use it against Rittenhouse.

America needs to rethink some of its morals and values if these are the people we praise and let off easy. Men like Rittenhouse need to pay the consequences, and the only way that will happen is if the U.S., as a country, changes.