In Light of the Rittenhouse Verdict... A Question

[Walt]

In the event of a shoot out between two armed people...both can now claim self defense right?

That happens more often than you would think. Imagine two men hear a noise in their backyards and go out to investigate (with guns). They turn to see the other pointing a gun at them. Both have a legal right to shoot the other in self defense in many states. It is called mutual mistaken self defense.

 

[Walt]

Who started the fight?

That really does not matter, in most US states. The threat is the legally important thing. Two men each seeing the other threaten them on their own property have the right to shoot each other in many states.

 

[Callinectes]

In the event of a shoot out between two armed people...both can now claim self defense right?

Remember back in elementary school when two kids would get in a fight and a teacher would jump in and break it up? Inevitably one or both of the combatants would point at the other and scream "he started it!" and BOTH of the little varmints got punished. Yeah, those were the days. Those were the days that pissed me off to no end. Not the punishment part, but the lack of justice! Well, we're not in elementary school anymore, and one of the perks of being an adult is, who starts an altercation actually matters now, And that's one reason we have a court system.

 

[T. A. Gardner]

In the event of a shoot out between two armed people...both can now claim self defense right?

Depends. I'd need more context and information about the two's actions that lead to the shoot-out.

 

[Callinectes]

That happens more often than you would think. Imagine two men hear a noise in their backyards and go out to investigate (with guns). They turn to see the other pointing a gun at them. Both have a legal right to shoot the other in self defense in many states. It is called mutual mistaken self defense.

Yeah, sure...That's EXACTLY what happened with Rittenhouse...

 

[T. A. Gardner]

Remember back in elementary school when two kids would get in a fight and a teacher would jump in and break it up? Inevitably one or both of the combatants would point at the other and scream "he started it!" and BOTH of the little varmints got punished. Yeah, those were the days. Those were the days that pissed me off to no end. Not the punishment part, but the lack of justice! Well, we're not in elementary school anymore, and one of the perks of being an adult is, who starts an altercation actually matters now, And that's one reason we have a court system.

Now the teachers would call the police and both would end up in juvie. If it were between a boy and a girl she gets off and the boy gets expelled and ends up in juvie.

 

[Matt Dillon]

You can go into a bar and start a fight. Then kill that person in self defense.

Yeah, it doesn't work like that at all.

 

[Matt Dillon]

Now the teachers would call the police and both would end up in juvie. If it were between a boy and a girl she gets off and the boy gets expelled and ends up in juvie.

True story!

This is what a world without disciplined children looks like, and it's not pretty.

Parents don't/aren't allowed to set boundaries for their children, so when the children grow up, it's suddenly on the government to control this being that has never been disciplined ever in their life. What could possibly go wrong?

One thing I notice about the younger ones is a serious lack of empathy. A by and large lack of empathy. That's scary.

 

[Old Trapper]

Yeah, it doesn't work like that at all.

It did for Rittenhouse.