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Tag: gun debate
Rittenhouse Verdict Renews Polarized U.S. Gun Debate

Rittenhouse Verdict Renews Polarized U.S. Gun Debate

By Joseph Ax

(Reuters) - Kyle Rittenhouse's acquittal on murder charges on Friday opened yet another front in America's longstanding fight over gun rights: Is it acceptable for a teenager to bring an assault-style rifle to a protest?

Conservatives hailed Rittenhouse as a hero for exercising his right to self-defense when he fatally shot two demonstrators and wounded a third who he said attacked him last year at a racial justice protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Gun control advocates warned the jury's verdict could inspire a new wave of armed vigilantism, after Rittenhouse - armed with an AR-15-style rifle - traveled in August 2020 from his Illinois home to Kenosha after demonstrations erupted following the police shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake.

Guns have long been a potent political issue in the United States, where permissive laws have led to the highest rate of civilian firearm ownership in the world. Mass shootings, which are far more rare in other wealthy nations, have plagued the country for decades.

Rittenhouse's decision, at age 17, to roam the streets of Kenosha toting a weapon in the name of protecting private property from rioters struck a particular nerve about just how far gun rights should extend.

"As the tragic events on that night in August showed, a 17-year-old arming himself with an AR-15 makes no one safer," top officials at Giffords, the gun safety group, said in a statement. "Today's verdict sends a troubling message that will encourage further vigilante violence and murder."

Gun rights organizations and Rittenhouse supporters celebrated the outcome as a major victory.

Within minutes of the verdict, the National Rifle Association posted on Twitter the language of the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

Brandon Lesco, who was standing outside the Kenosha courthouse holding a "Free Kyle!" sign, said the verdict was just.

"Someone needs to be there to defend the American towns that people try to burn. I respect that he was there, I respect he carried a weapon, he used it properly, he used it legally. The jurors agree," said Lesco.

The trial judge earlier this week had dismissed a misdemeanor charge against Rittenhouse for illegally possessing the rifle he used in the shootings, citing vagueness in the law.

'Unacceptable Message

Liberals denounced Rittenhouse's acquittal as further evidence of a racially biased criminal justice system. Rittenhouse, like the men he shot, is white.

"That a white male youth can travel across state lines, armed with an assault rifle, and engage in armed confrontation resulting in multiple deaths without facing criminal accountability, is the all too familiar outcome in a country where systemic racism continues to rot the system," Margaret Huang, president and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center, said in a statement.

Some legal experts were careful to draw a distinction between the specific facts of Rittenhouse's case and the broader message it might send.

Prosecutors had a high bar to clear to convince jurors that Rittenhouse did not reasonably fear for his life at the time he fired, according to Janine Geske, a former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice. Under state law, he was legally permitted to carry his weapon openly.

But Geske said she worried the trial will teach the wrong lesson: "When you're out protesting or counter-protesting, it is perfectly fine to bring loaded weapons to 'protect yourself.' We're going to have substantial issues of who's defending themselves, when you've got two people with a gun?"

That sentiment was echoed by Karen Bloom and John Huber, the parents of Anthony Huber, one of the men killed by Rittenhouse.

"It sends the unacceptable message that armed civilians can show up in any town, incite violence, and then use the danger they have created to justify shooting people in the street," they said in a statement.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Additional reporting by Maria Caspani, Nathan Layne, Mike Scarcella and Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Daniel Wallis)

Open Carry In Texas Presents A Chance For Fashion Statements

Open Carry In Texas Presents A Chance For Fashion Statements

By Anna M. Tinsley, Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TNS)

FORT WORTH, Texas — This isn’t your grandfather’s old gun holster — or gun, for that matter.

Many of today’s guns and holsters, which a number of Texans will openly carry starting Friday, display carvings and decorations, designs such as flags, even sayings such as “Don’t tread on me.” And some are intended specifically to appeal to women.

It’s about time, some say, noting that women now hold have about a quarter of the state’s licenses to carry handguns.

“Fashion is important to women,” said Carrie Lightfoot, owner of The Well Armed Woman, an Arizona-based online company. “It’s part of who we are. Look at our homes and cars. We basically decorate everything.”

At a time when women are the fastest-growing group of gun buyers, there are even ways to add a corrosion-resistant Cerakote coating to handguns, to change the color of the weapons.

“I think there’s an appeal, when you go to the range, to pull out a firearm that looks different from everyone else’s,” said Cheryl Coburn, digital marketing manager for the Oregon-based NIC Industries, which has a Cerakote division. “Not everyone wants the standard black. Women, we like pretty things.”

But don’t think that a holster or gun decorated with, say, leopard-print or camouflage, means that the woman carrying it isn’t serious about using it.

“Women are really serious about this topic,” said Lightfoot, whose online company sells handgun accessories and directs women to gun training classes. “It’s not like buying a piece of jewelry. It’s buying a tool that could take the life of someone if they have to use it.”

More women are buying and carrying guns than in the past.

Two years ago, firearm sellers estimated that 20 percent of their shooting and hunting-related sales were to women, up from 15 percent in 2010, according to National Sporting Goods Association reports.

And nearly three-fourths of retailers noted that they saw more women in their stores in 2013 than they did the year before, the report said.

“The women’s market is a force in our industry, and manufacturers, retailers and shooting ranges are making changes to their products and services to satisfy women’s tastes and needs,” said Jim Curcuruto, director of industry research and analysis for the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

More than half the women who own firearms have semiautomatic pistols. Shotguns are the second most likely firearm a woman will own, according to a foundation report.

In the past year, women who bought guns spent nearly $900 on a firearm and more than $400 on accessories. They say they buy items based on practicality, fit and quality.

And most of the women say they aren’t impulse purchases, but something they’ve studied for a while.

The number of Texans with licenses to carry handguns continues to grow, this year reaching nearly 914,000, or nearly 4 percent of Texas’ 27 million residents, according to Texas Department of Public Safety records.

And about one-fourth of those permit holders are women — 27 percent in 2014, 28 percent in 2013, 22 percent in 2012, records show.

Meanwhile, firearm fashion shows are growing in popularity as a way to show women the variety of holsters and gun accessories that are available.

“Many of the women who attend the shows are thinking fashion first and guns second,” said Lucretia Free, who puts on the shows and publishes The American Woman Shooter.

It’s an easy way, she said, “to educate women in a nonthreatening environment about all of the possibilities that exist.”

For many years, the holster needs of many women weren’t being met, Lightfoot said.

“It’s such a manly industry and there weren’t products that understood that fashion is important to women,” she said. “We provide women the opportunity to customize or personalize their holster to whatever color or pattern they prefer. Women need to personalize.”

There are “on the waistband” convertible holsters, which let women carry their handgun on the inside or outside of their pants or skirts, that are made out of Kydex, a type of plastic.

And there are more traditional leather holsters, including those bearing the popular Old Glory.

Purple and black are popular colors, as are the black carbon fiber and pink carbon fiber versions. When violence or tensions in the world rise, the Old Glory version also becomes one of the top sellers.

But there are many other options, including zebra- and leopard-print, lemon yellow, pink, orange, key lime, mocha, turquoise and more.

And for women who choose to carry their weapons concealed, despite the open carry law, there are belly band, bra, tank, pocket, undershorts and thigh holsters available.

“It’s important for people to understand this isn’t frivolous,” Lightfoot said. “It’s not making light of a situation. It’s just part of a new world of being your own protector.

“Men don’t get it,” she said. “It’s about form, style and function. Just because women like color, it doesn’t mean they take it lightly.”

©2015 Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Photo: Ratha Grimes via Flickr