Second Amendment Bits And Pieces - The Turkey Trot Edition

It seems like a good time to give y’all a quick update of the various goings-on in the world of Second Amendment Radicals and armed citizens. It’s been a busy few weeks as we’ve closed out a fun Spooky Season and are barreling headlong into the turkey trots, Christmas, Hanukkah, and the end of the year.

Of course, the biggest story on the menu is the not guilty verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse case…

Kyle Rittenhouse Found Not Guilty On All Charges

Of course, the biggest news item of recent weeks was the trial of youngster Kyle Rittenhouse. In case you missed it, last summer, then 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse used an AR-15 rifle to defend himself during a series of protests-turned-riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin in response to the notorious police-involved incidents concerning George Floyd and Jacob Blake.

Now, as has been noted in the dim past of this blog, it’s perfectly alright on a moral level, and most of the times on a legal level, to be armed at a protest. Some places have laws inconsistent with the First and Second Amendments regarding this act, but usually you can lawfully be armed at a protest.

Anyway, Kyle got caught up in the goings-on, and was attacked by people armed with skateboards and firearms. In the specific encounter, attacker Gaige Grossenkreutz rushed Kyle with his GLOCK drawn, and Kyle responded accordingly, discharging his AR and striking Gaige in the bicep. Two other attackers lost their lives that evening as a result of their actions.

In the ensuing confusion and “fog of war”, it took quite awhile for police to sort out the mess before taking young Rittenhouse in.

However, before the paperwork was even processed, the trial by media had begun in earnest. It was a perfect storm for the MSM. A young white male, appearing to be aligned with supporters of then-President Trump, running around the streets with a scary black rifle, subsequently shooting three white people ostensibly aligned with the BLM movement.

As the COVID panic was in full-swing, the wheels of justice moved slower than usual, and the trial did not start until a few weeks ago. After many prosecutorial mis-steps, i.e. where “star witness” Grossenkreutz actually admitted to drawing his gun first and pointing it at Rittenhouse, the jury sat down for deliberations.

After an agonizing wait and even a mis-step by the defense asking for a mistrial without prejudice (i.e. Rittenhouse could be re-tried with a different prosecutor, etc…), the jury returned a verdict of not guilty on all charges.

The determination rested and focused on the specific incident in question, where Kyle had felled three people using his AR-15. The jury determined that it was proven, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Kyle had lawfully defended himself at that moment.

And that’s what it was. Wisconsin law allows for minors above 16 to openly carry a rifle. Rittenhouse was 17. No concrete evidence presented itself of Kyle attacking or menacing anyone with his rifle. There’s no law in Wisconsin prohibiting people from Illinois bringing their rifles over the state line - even though Rittenhouse had obtained the weapon from a Wisconsin person. Again, legal. There’s also no law prohibiting the open carry of arms at a protest in Wisconsin. So, Rittenhouse was lawfully present when he defended himself from his attackers. That’s the crux - you have to be lawfully present for a self-defense claim to hold water.

Like if a local pimp is out doing what a pimp does (a pimp’s love is very different from that of a square…), and said pimp shoots someone who shoots at him, he’s still screwed since pimping is a felony. Committing a felony means you are no longer lawfully present in a given location.

That being said, at the end of the day - Kyle Rittenhouse is a damn lucky young man. I gather that his motivations were good, i.e. he wanted to help out the community where some of his family resided, but on a pure planning level, it was a tactical blunder - and thankfully he was able to recover from it.

However court processes don’t allow for vague notions and motivations to be introduced into evidence. Both sides on the trial lost sight of this. Rittenhouse may have made some errors in judgement, but he was lawfully present where he was attacked. Yes, his attackers were, to be blunt, scum of the earth. But at this moment, we live in a society where people are supposed to get a fair shake in court, no matter what their crimes were. Rittenhouse got his, and the price of that is scumbags and idiots get theirs too. The prosecution admitted they would have had another attacker, Rosenbaum, arrested for arson, had he survived.

Again, Kyle is one lucky young gent. I doubt he knew he was lawfully present when he defended himself. He just did, and hoped for the best. He had the advantage of ditching grifter Lin Wood as his lawyer, hiring some decent ones, and was assigned a fair and strict judge. And yeah, the prosecution was a bunch of bunglers.

That being said, it should be a lesson to us Second Amendment Radicals. While we’re the kind of people whom are strong of heart and we look to go and help those in need, we have to evaluate the overall situation before making a move.

In a situation involving civil unrest, it’s often the best course to focus on protecting one’s own property, rather than venturing forth.

Kyle, on the slight chance you’re reading - don’t get caught up in the grift. I see you were on Tucker Carlson tonight, telling your story. That’s fine, I suppose. But seriously - wrap that crap up, and go lay low somewhere for awhile. Enjoy life, learn stuff.

That being said, the Rittenhouse circus did also distract us from another high-profile trial, where self-defense claims are going wildly wrong.

The Murder Of Ahmaud Arbery

While the Rittenhouse legal circus went on, the world kept moving, as it tends to do. Another high-stakes trial began, notably involving the killing of 25-year old Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, Georgia in February of 2020.

Beyond the dubious claims of self-defense and citizen’s arrest by the defendants Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael, and William “Roddie” Bryan - the whole process as it stands shows of corruption up and down the chain of government, simply because it took 74 days for charges to be levied against the defendants. In most cases, charges are presented within hours or a few days of a shooting incident where the details are not immediately clear.

As a background, prior to Arbery’s homicide (FYI, most jurisdictions treat killings as a homicide until proven otherwise…), there were reports of burglaries in the Satilla Shores neighborhood of Brunswick, Georgia. So, residents were definitely on the alert for any unusual activity. Which is perfectly fine.

On February 23rd, 2020, Ahmaud Arbery was spotted by residents jogging throughout the neighborhood, and was recorded by security cameras entering a home that was under construction. Arbery left the under-construction home, and resumed his run down the street. Arbery did not remove any items from the construction site. He went in, looked around, and left.

Immediately after Arbery was observed in the neighborhood, the McMichael brothers took it upon themselves to give chase in their truck, accompanied by Roddie Bryan. After the McMichaels and Bryan attempted to cut off Arbery with their trucks, they managed to bring him to a halt. Travis McMichael exited his truck with his shotgun. During the ensuing struggle, Arbery was shot three times, and died.

Though I’m not an attorney, I can really take a good shot at summing this up, without even resorting to the backgrounds of the McMichaels, Bryan, or Arbery. That’s how it’s supposed to be, by the way. Prior life details are not relevant in these cases. The trial is supposed to focus on the incident for which charges are levied.

Anyway - by my back-of-the-napkin analysis, the McMichael brothers and Bryan are in the wrong. First of all, they had no proof Arbery was the guy committing burglaries in the neighborhood. Second of all, other than maybe a trespassing charge, Arbery most likely committed no other real crimes that day. Certainly not enough to warrant what happened to him.

Ironically, until after Arbery’s death, Georgia had a vague law on the books with a rather liberal interpretation of the concept of a citizen’s arrest, which formed a key part of the defense’s courtroom strategy. As we all know, vague laws are often abused, and this seems to be the case here. And any claim of self-defense is off the table, since the brothers McMichael and Bryan were not lawfully present when they chased down Aubery.

The media loves to paint Rittenhouse as a vigilante. He was far from it. However, the McMichael brothers were acting in a vigilante role. They went off, half-cocked, and were tried and convicted accordingly. Despite the hype, we still ostensibly live in a society where due process is in place, and Arbery deserved his day in court, if he were to be accused of a crime, as much as Rittenhouse got his day in court.

Now conversely, had Arbery been armed and defended himself when the McMichael Brothers cut him off and detained him, it would have been a textbook self-defense case. Despite the fact that Arbery may have trespassed prior to the shooting, he still had every right to defend himself.

The McMichaels and Bryan though - they did everything wrong you possibly could do wrong in a situation where the plan may be to claim self-defense, and the vague claim of a citizen’s arrest won’t hold water, either.

As I closed out this segment, the verdict came in, with the brothers McMichael and Bryan being declared guilty on almost every charge. The ones that carried some weight, i.e. the felony murder charges, stuck, so these fools should be going away for a long time.

Being Second Amendment Radicals and armed citizens acting in that role, we’re not cops. We don’t chase bad guys and bring them to court. Our role is to defend ourselves, our loved ones, and property from all threats, foreign and domestic. Not chase down people down the street that we only have a vague notion about. If anything, it should be a demonstration of how we need to be very cautious when choosing to intervene in situations.

Anyways…

Asshole Of The Month - Ryan Busse - formerly of Kimber

In what seems to be the standard these days, there’s no shortage of anti-Second Amendment assholes out there. If they could fly, this place would be Newark Airport and smell just as bad. So, it’s usally pretty tough to select just one asshole from the serried ranks of harridans, scolds, and other garden-variety defectives out there.

That being said, when the case of Ryan Busse, formerly of Kimber Manufacturing, presented itself, I really didn’t have to think twice about giving him the nod to be Asshole Of The Month for November 2021.

As a bit of a backstory, Busse is releasing a book, titled Gun Fight (go look for it yourself, I’m not linking to it…) which details the purported sins of the National Rifle Association and the firearms industry as a whole. Now, if Busse were just a disgruntled employee of Kimber, he might have something - but as they say, the devil is in the details.

Ryan Busse was employed by Kimber Manufacturing in 1995, eventually rising to become a vice president of sales by the time he left the firm in 2020. On paper, 25 years at one company is a really good run. The numbers must have added up and made sense, so Kimber kept him around. Now, after 25 years at a firearms company, one would think that Busse would either kick back and relax, enjoying the fruits of his labor, or pivot to another gun company and start working the deals there. Nope.

What Busse did was beyond the pale - he became a gun policy adviser to Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr’s presidential run in 2020, and after Mr “AFT” assumed the throne, Busse rapidly found a gig at noted harridan coven Giffords, founded by anti-gun bureaucrat Gabby Giffords and her cosmic garbage truck-driving husband, current Senate ghoul Mark Kelly.

OK, to be fair, we (ostensibly) live in a free country and people have the inherent right to do what they will with their life. At first glance, it may seem Busse may have grown corrupted and disillusoned over the years and maybe decided to side with the enemy. However, it’s not quite that way with Busse.

According to what he wrote in his new book, he became disillusioned with the firearms industry after the Columbine notorious shooting incident that took place on April 20th, 1999.

Busse left Kimber in early 2020.

I’ve been disillusioned with things in my life before. The feeling either passes, like feelings sometimes do, or I quickly got off my butt and made some changes so I didn’t have to deal with that feeling anymore. Personal feelings aside, Busse does have the earmarks of a successful salesperson. Kimber kept him around for awhile, after all. What I’m getting at is that disillusionment is a counterproductive feeling. Like, why would he put forth a massive effort to sell firearms if he was so disillusioned with the scene? Wouldn’t it have been easier to coast while seeking alternative moneymaking avenues?

My guess is that Busse’s only guiding principle in life is greed and power. He figured on a few things. Firstly that he was probably making a damn good living at Kimber. Salary plus commissions, bonuses, and so on. Secondly that as an employee of a firearms manufacturer, he would be relatively insulated from any gun control measures that successfully came down the pipe. Busse claims to be a “gun guy” with the usual Fudd trope of “grew up around guns”, and I actually don’t doubt he has an interest in guns. But, he’s just a guy with a scheme and a hobby, not a true supporter of individual rights. Thusly if he stayed with Kimber, he’d have ready access to a large variety of guns, many of which would be banned under the gun control measures he supports. Basically a “fuck you I got mine” mindset.

In a recent interview on NPR, Busse touches on the usual Fudd trope of being against “high-powered” weapons in private hands. Oddly enough, the whole having-worked-for-a-gun-manufacturer-for-over-two-decades-and-didnt-say-a-thing-about-gun-control part never came up. Probably because it would destroy the MSM spin of painting Busse as some sort of “Han Solo In Stormtrooper Armor” guy within the 2A scene. Oh he’s a stormtrooper alright, but he sure as hell is’t Han Solo.

As for him leaving the industry and basically walking right into the enemy camp? My theory is that he was growing bored with being in an industry he didn’t care for at a personal level, so he offered up his services and schemes to the highest bidder. From the perspective of a normal person, seeing a high-ranking executive at a major gun company defect and come out in support of gun control is pretty big. Not gonna lie, unless we go to war over this, it’s not a good look, no matter what Busse says. No one’s gonna read his book, so it’s basically just going to be an MSM fellatio parade so he can blab about how evil the NRA, the gun industry, and us Second Amendment Radicals are.

Thankfully, Kimber has disavowed any agreement with the claptrap Busse has been spouting, and it sincerely wouldn’t surprise me if there’s legal action brewing against him, depending on the severity of the lies and propaganda in his book.

If you’re motivated by greed and power, that’s fine I guess. Go work in the investment sector or something. However, working in an industry which serves and caters to the ultimate expression of individual rights - the right to keep and bear arms - and using that for your own personal quest for control and corruption, is beyond the pale.

Being a turncoat on people who are all about freedom, self-reliance, and fun? That’s the Sunpass express lane to getting confirmed as an Asshole Of The Month.

Ryan Busse - you’re a fucking asshole.

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