Illinois Will Not Charge Kyle Rittenhouse for AR-15 Possession

The state of Illinois will not charge Kyle Rittenhouse for possession of the AR-15 he allegedly used in Kenosha, Wisconsin, because the rifle was allegedly “purchased, stored, and used” out of state.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the office of Lake County state’s attorney Mike Nerheim noted that there is no evidence 17-year-old Rittenhouse ever “physically possessed” the rifle in the state of Illinois.

Rittenhouse still faces a misdemeanor charge in Wisconsin for underage possession of the firearm, but his attorney, John M. Pierce, told Fox News’s Tucker Carlson that that charge is “incorrect.”

Prosecutors in Kenosha have also charged Rittenhouse with murder and other charges tied to his use of the rifle on August 25, 2020, during the Jacob Blake riots.

Breitbart News reported that Rittenhouse allegedly shot three people on August 25, two of whom succumbed to their wounds. The incident was captured on amateur cell phone footage and quickly went viral.

Rittenhouse told reporters he was in Kenosha to protect people’s property, and in late September his attorney, Pierce, told Breitbart News Sunday, “Wisconsin is an open carry state. You’ve seen the video of what was going on in that city. It was a war zone, and Kyle had every right — just as much a right — to be there as the people that were trying to burn down that city, and he was attempting to protect property and attempting to be there to provide medical aid.”

Pierce added, “Every person that has any sense at all is going to take a weapon to that location. It was a legal weapon. I can’t comment right now further on the specifics of where the weapon was obtained. It was obtained as a legal weapon. It did not cross state lines. That charge is incorrect as a matter of law in Wisconsin. Actually, that weapon can be possessed by anyone 16 years or older.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.