Yeah. You're not going to successfully argue that the purpose of a AR-15 is anything other than to kill.

You could point out that gunpowder was an accidental invention while trying to discover a youth serum or whatever it was. Fair enough.

You could claim that guns were invented to shoot fireworks. Also fair enough.

But they were very quickly put into use defending against Mongol hordes and from that point were developed for warfare or to hunt.

By the time the AK-47 came along, there is no argument about what it's purpose is and what it was designed for.

It was developed inside the military. That A stands for Assault. Not Defense. Not Hunting. Not Baking Pies with Grandma.

Assault.

You can argue that the AR in AR-15 stands for Armalite, not Assault Rifle. And you'd be correct. You can insist that it was not developed inside the military and you'd also be correct.

What you can't do is falsely claim that the general design is not very much the same as any other assault rifle that had been used almost exclusively for military purposes. Or, to kill people. In fact, the main innovation of the AR-15 is in the materials used to build it making it more light weight.

As evidenced by the fact that the first customers were militaries all over the world. Not elk hunters. Not safari or Everglades tour boat captains. Not Park Rangers. Not Postmen. Not anyone else who might have need of a weapon for purely defensive means.

Militaries. Militias. Guerilla units.

Simply carrying one around in normal daily life in a public place is announcing an ability, willingness, and preparedness to kill. Without regard to the impact on the general populace.

When there are ALWAYS other options.

Let us not pretend otherwise.

Rittenhouse is a murderer because he killed people. He is also an acquitted murderer because (imo) the prosecution argued a case focused on the wrong set of facts that allowed the defense to wiggle in "reasonable doubt" and play off the public's (juries are made from the public) ire at the protests and overall fear of Black revenge.

Both are true statements (with my opinion on why it went that way laced in).

He's also inarguably a white supremacist. He may or may not have been before becoming a murderer, I don't know. But inarguably, he has been hanging out known white supremacist and accepting their assistance and their counsel since then. He willingly chose to become a far right poster boy. It wasn't at gunpoint.

Let us not pretend otherwise.