And now, it begins.

Amid violent Black Lives Matter riots and arson in Kenosha, Wisc., on Tuesday night, 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse opened fire at looters in two separate instances, killing two people and injuring a third. Police arrested Rittenhouse on Wednesday after cops apparently congratulated him on Tuesday night. Early reports suggest Rittenhouse shot one man in the head while the victim was looting a car shop, but his second shooting appeared to involve self-defense after looters threw a Molotov cocktail at him.

And tackling, beating, and kicking him brutally, too.

Rittenhouse came from Antioch, Ill., which is only 15 miles away from Kenosha, the Associated Press reported. Authorities arrested him on suspicion of first-degree intentional homicide.

He oughta get some kind of medal, if you ask me.

Shaffer later explained that in the minutes before the shooting, rioters used drones and bats to destroy vehicles, and lit multiple cars on fire. Ironically, one of the rioters operated the shop and he tried to stop his Black Lives Matter allies from destroying his property.

Shaffer also noted that “the alleged shooter was defending the property.”

This context does not excuse what appears to have been a vigilante assassination.

Like hell it doesn’t. With the rioters enjoying the full endorsement and support of Democrat-Socialist officialdom nationwide, and the police kept on a tight leash by those same criminal authorities, ordinary citizens have stepped up to do what they must.

However, the second shooting appears to have involved self-defense. Townhall’s Julio Rosas reported seeing a Black Lives Matter mob chasing Rittenhouse. After Rittenhouse tripped and fell, the rioters shouted, “Get his *ss!” Then the man appears to have shot one of the rioters in self-defense.

The violent riots and arson in Kenosha are terrifying, and it makes sense that citizens would arm themselves to curb the destruction. That does not justify Rittenhouse’s first shooting, however. Police arguably should have arrested the man right after the shootings.

Instead, they reportedly allowed him to go home. That does not suggest inherent racism, as some on the Left have claimed. The cops may have a bias in favor of a vigilante trying to stop the rioting over the rioters themselves. Even so, they should have arrested Rittenhouse after the shootings.

O’Neill blandly says that as if these were ordinary times. But they are no such thing. We are at war, with a violent Left-wing revolutionary enemy actively seeking to overthrow and destroy this nation. We sat idly back as they assaulted, beat, stabbed, shot, and ran over numerous innocent people with impunity, going at least as far back as the shooting of Steve Scalise and others by a deranged Bernie Sanders employee.

Quite simply, the ordinary rules and standards no longer apply.

And honestly, much as I do hate to see it come to this, in my estimation young Rittenhouse is skating mighty close to being a real American hero. He courageously put himself in harm’s way to protect others; he didn’t flinch or hesitate when it came time to living up to his commitment. He buckled down and did what he had to do. And a couple of shitbag Marxist goblins ended up getting themselves killed.

Well, so fucking what? THEY called this tune, in spite of constant serious and sober warnings about where it would lead. So far we’ve resisted the invitation, but now the ball has started in earnest, and we’re all going to have to get off our chairs and onto the dance floor.

As I keep saying, nobody on our side wanted this. But we’re stuck with it anyway, like it or not, and frankly I’m glad to see one of ours shooting back at long, long last. All in all, I’m with Ace:

I think legally he’s guilty, but I don’t think the law is in effect any longer. The government is refusing to enforce it against insurrectionists, effectively making them State Sanctioned Terrorists, and citizens are forced to defend themselves and their own property.

I’ve been saying it for years: If the government will not protect the citizenry, then the citizenry will turn to vigilantism.

And citizens do not have the long hours of training that cops do.

You have to give them some leeway. If the state is effectively making terrorism and arson legal, then I say, shooting rioters without normal legal justification is now legal too.

He has been arrested. I say: Jury nullification. We’ll start giving the state convictions they moment they start enforcing the laws, and not a moment before.

Play Thunderdome games, win Thunderdome prizes.

Update: JEM sends me to Shipwreckedcrew at Red State, who has video before the first shot — antifa/BLM droogs were chasing this guy down. He turned and fired on them.

Self defense. Fuck you, assholes. Play human-hunting games, win Most Dangerous Game prizes.

See the video here, from 3:59:00 to 3:59:45. You can clearly see a group of bipedal wolves chasing this guy down.

Then he decides his life is in danger, turns, and kills an animal.

Precisely so. One of O’Neill’s commenters spells it out nicely:

There is a fundamental human right to protect one’s self, one’s family, and one’s property.
In a free democratic society the people make a pact with the government they create; that individuals will restrain their own right to self-defense where feasible, in return for the government promising to seek justice on their behalf.

When the government turns a blind eye to a citizen’s peril, that citizen can justly retake their original human right to defend themselves. This is the entire argument behind Blacks having an inherent right to protect themselves from violent racists if the government refuses to do so on their behalf…

Annnnd bingo. Governments all across the country have reneged on that societal contract; they reject the Constitution’s call to “ensure domestic tranquility,” refusing to duly enforce the law for purely political reasons. They have informed ordinary citizens, in no uncertain terms, that they are well and truly on their own.

Real Americans’ patience, while very deep and strong, is not without limit. It has been stretched far beyond any reasonable bounds by both the rioters and the government officials who brazenly cheer them on. Those officials had better recognize that they can be brought to heel relatively easily, their transgressions and abuses harshly punished. They are by no means beyond the reach of an angry and aroused citizenry bent on righteous vengeance. Justice a la Rittenhouse can also be visited upon them, and the more they go on as they have been, the sooner they might just wind up facing the music themselves.

Update! Bill has a couple of photos which clearly indicate self-defense.