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I screwed up on January 6.
Like tens of millions of Americans, I sat in front of my television set aghast, watching in horror as thousands of rabid MAGA supporters crashed through barriers, broke down doors, shattered windows, and beat and pepper-sprayed US Capitol officers and metro police here in Washington DC, where I’ve lived for 25 years.
What I should have done is take matters into my own hands. But, alas, I was unfamiliar with the new “Rittenhouse Rules.”
As we learned in the wake of last month’s murder in Minneapolis of Alex Pretti by Department of Homeland Security agents, Second Amendment rights are quite malleable, applied selectively and depending upon one’s politics.
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Conservative gun owners, for example, don’t merely have a right to own and carry guns. Nor is their right bound by the need to protect themselves, their family, and property, or to “stand their ground” in public if threatened. Thanks to the Rittenhouse Rules, their gun rights include the power to appoint themselves vigilantes.
Kyle Rittenouse, of course, was the 17-year-old from Illinois who, in August 2020, crossed state lines into Kenosha, Wisconsin, with an AR-15. Believing himself deputized to protect private property he did not even own, he shot two people, claiming later at his trial that his actions were justified because he feared for his life. He was exonerated.
Apparently, Rittenhouse unwittingly created a new standard: If there’s violence, or merely unrest or property threats somewhere — and even if that unrest is unfolding far from your home, school, workplace, or other space you normally occupy — the Second Amendment empowers you to insert yourself into that situation as a self-deputized member of a one-person citizen law enforcement militia.
Heck, the unrest can even be occurring in a neighboring state. Although supposed “states’ rights” advocates know full well that neighboring state troopers would be required to gain permission before crossing state lines to perform their duties, apparently regular citizens can do whatever they want with impunity.
Well, if those citizens are conservative, that is. If liberals want to stay alive, as we heard countless conservative commentators say in recent weeks, they should stay home or whatever happens to them is their own fault.
Conservatives, on the other hand, can launch themselves into the breach and be hailed as courageous heroes worthy of private photo-ops with the president.
Which is why I regret my inaction on January 6, 2021.
Some exceptions apply
Blithely unaware of the new Rittenhouse standard, I foolishly sat on my couch, watching with rising fury as 2020 election loser Donald Trump’s violent MAGA mob attacked the US Capitol.
Within an hour of the attack beginning, it was clear from live television feeds that law enforcement officers were overwhelmed. Crimes, including both property and violent ones, were being committed a li