{"id":75067,"date":"2021-12-06T02:39:29","date_gmt":"2021-12-06T08:39:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=75067"},"modified":"2021-12-06T02:39:29","modified_gmt":"2021-12-06T08:39:29","slug":"75067","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=75067","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

My first squad leader in the Army was a font of personal advice.
\nOne I liked a lot is: “Experience is the best teacher and the best experience is someone else’s<\/strong>, because it’s usually less expensive and less painful.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Lessons Learned From The Rittenhouse Situation<\/a><\/p>\n

Kyle Rittenhouse did nothing wrong.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to start by saying this here and now, lest there be any confusion. While he made some decisions I might question later on here, I don\u2019t think that he was necessarily wrong for making those decisions. I have the benefit of hindsight at work here, and I\u2019m not interested in second-guessing him.<\/p>\n

However, I do think that cases like his give us all a great opportunity to learn, so that\u2019s what I did.<\/p>\n

Here are a few of my takeaways from his case.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Going To Risky Places Is Contraindicated<\/h4>\n

We all know that walking around in the seedy, crime-ridden part of town is a bad idea. We tend to avoid these places like the plague if at all possible.<\/p>\n

However, some of us will also look at those who line up outside of buildings with AR-15s during a riot as if they\u2019re doing a wonderful thing. I sure as hell do. And yet, they\u2019ve put themselves in a dangerous situation by being in a dangerous place.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not saying they shouldn\u2019t do so, especially if it\u2019s their business. What I do want to say, though, is that you have to be prepared for any potential fallout from having done so.<\/p>\n

As we saw during Rittenhouse\u2019s prosecution, the fact that he was there and armed was used against him. It would be nice to believe that it would never happen again, that attorneys learned their lesson, but don\u2019t count on it.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re going to do something like that, be aware of what can happen.<\/p>\n

For many, that is something we\u2019d rather not go through, so staying home and making sure you can continue being there for your family\u2013how long did Rittenhouse remain in jail again?\u2013may well be the smarter decision.<\/p>\n

The Law May Not Protect You<\/h4>\n

This one is really all on me.<\/p>\n

I grew up in a household with a police officer dad. I grew up with a respect for the law that isn\u2019t likely to go away anytime soon. Now, I get civil disobedience and think there\u2019s definitely a time and place for that sort of thing, but for the most part I believe you follow the laws and work to change the bad ones.<\/p>\n

Part of that respect, though, is the belief that the law will protect you as well. We see how that worked out.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kyle Rittenhouse did what the law required, up to and including attempting to retreat from danger. This is all stuff that should have served to prevent him from getting prosecuted. As we all know, it didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

While justice was ultimately served, it may well have gone a different direction and we all know it.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors don\u2019t get to make their name by declining to prosecute people. Not usually, anyway. A district attorney looking to appear tough to his supporters may well go after anyone, and as we saw, they\u2019ll try and use anything they can against them.<\/p>\n

As a result, I\u2019ve started thinking things through a bit more than I might otherwise have. For example, my wife saw a sign that said, \u201cNo Trespassing: We\u2019re Tired Of Hiding The Bodies.\u201d She thought it was funny and talked about getting it.<\/p>\n

It was funny. However, I can also see a prosecutor trying to use that to justify locking me up for murder because I had to shoot someone on my property. \u201cSee,\u201d he\u2019d tell the jury, \u201che was itching to kill someone. He thought taking human life was a joke!\u201d<\/p>\n

So no, we aren\u2019t getting it.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m also not getting a warm sense of security from the same legal system that\u2019s supposed to protect the innocent and punish the guilty. After all, what transpired with Rittenhouse was recorded from about 6,000 different angles. It was clear as day, and yet he still faced prosecution. What hope can I really have that it wouldn\u2019t happen to me, too?<\/p>\n

Get Self-Defense Insurance<\/h4>\n

Kyle Rittenhouse\u2019s legal defense was expensive. He had a ton of donations, sure, but if you\u2019re involved in a self-defense case, can you guarantee that the masses will flock to pay your attorney fees?<\/p>\n

I wouldn\u2019t bet on it.<\/p>\n

As such, find yourself some good self-defense insurance. Like many other insurances, you may never need it. However, you\u2019re paying for the peace of mind that if you do, you have it and you\u2019re not on the hook for a massive bill when everything is said and done.<\/p>\n

No, you shouldn\u2019t need it, but as we\u2019ve already discussed, that may be more up to a prosecutor looking for fame than up to you.<\/p>\n

We carry a firearm not because we\u2019re frightened, but because we believe it\u2019s better to hope for the best and prepare for the worst than just hope. Having self-defense insurance is no different.<\/p>\n

Plus, most such insurance programs also come with access to some decent training, which will also benefit you a great deal, making this an even better deal.<\/p>\n

So those are a few of my lessons learned. What are some of yours?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My first squad leader in the Army was a font of personal advice. One I liked a lot is: “Experience is the best teacher and the best experience is someone else’s, because it’s usually less expensive and less painful.” Lessons Learned From The Rittenhouse Situation Kyle Rittenhouse did nothing wrong. I\u2019m going to start by … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,29,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rkba","category-safety","category-self-defense"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=75067"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75068,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75067\/revisions\/75068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=75067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=75067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=75067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}