In gun debate, Rittenhouse verdict unlikely to be last word

By SARA BURNETT
Associated Press

A jury will soon deliberate whether Kyle Rittenhouse is guilty of charges, including murder, for shooting three people in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Outside the courtroom, a debate already has played out across the country around the use of guns, particularly at protests over racial injustice and pandemic-related restrictions. Some see Rittenhouse as a patriot, defending an American city from destruction when police were unwilling or too overwhelmed to do so. Others see an irresponsible kid in over his head, enamored with brandishing a firearm, or someone looking for trouble or people to shoot. On the streets of Kenosha that night, for a while anyway, he was just another person with a gun.