Local groups are reacting to the verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial.
Rae Duckworth with Black Lives Matter Utah said this verdict encourages people to use their right to bear arms. She said there have been confrontations involving weapons at protests in Utah before.
“This is just like a terrible example of white supremacy being upheld over white bodies and that’s... it’s unfair,” Duckworth said of the jury verdict Friday.
Duckworth said the ruling reinforces why Black Lives Matter has been protesting.
“We protest peacefully to point out white supremacy as a flaw," she said. "That’s what this is. This is a flaw that we’ve been shouting and screaming about. So no, there’s not a difference in tension or fear. This is what we’re pointing out. So this is not a shocker for any person of color. Especially anybody living in Utah.”
As far as what it changes at protests going forward, Duckworth said it encourages people to know their rights.
“Which is, we have a right to bear arms," she added.
“I think that’s just going to encourage that at protests, so they are prepared to defend themselves," Duckworth said.
As far as confrontations at protests, Duckworth said that’s already happened locally.
“People do that anyways,” she said. “I had a gun pulled out in a West Valley protest in support of a police brutality victim. We had a gun pulled out on us. We see this stuff. This is not news to us.”
The Rittenhouse verdict also brought praise from people not just celebrating the Second Amendment, but also pointing to it as an affirmation of the principle of self-defense.
Mitch Vilos, a Davis County attorney who has written two books on firearms laws, said he’s not surprised the trial turned out the way it did.
“I think that it makes a statement that we still have preserved here in America the inalienable right of self-defense,” Vilos told KUTV 2News.
From Vilos’ perspective, Rittenhouse was threatened and used his gun appropriately while not provoking anyone, as prosecutors had argued.
“Provocation means that you are intentionally provoking someone with the intent to harm, and I didn’t see that that was the case at all,” Vilos said.
The trial divided people on both sides of this issue. Vilos said he believes the end result is just.
“It’s so important in a democracy to have that right to defend yourself and your loved ones,” he said.