‘Gun safety 101’: Kyle Rittenhouse attacks ‘unsafe’ prosecutor for demonstrating gun during his trial

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox

Get our free Inside Washington email

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice

Kyle Rittenhouse revealed on a right-wing podcast that he plans to destroy the AR-15 he used in the Kenosha shootings and mocked the prosecutor in his murder trial for mishandling the firearm.

Mr Rittenhouse shot and killed two people and injured a third during the Kenosha riots last year. He was charged with murder but a jury agreed that he killed in self defense and found him not guilty in November.

The young man – who has become a hero among culture-war conservatives – appeared on the right wing podcast “The Charlie Kirk Show” to discuss his case and his future plans.

He told Mr Kirk during the show that the AR-15 used in the shooting was being destroyed.

“We don't want anything to do with that,” Mr Rittenhouse said.

He also criticised Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger for holding the AR-15 and pointing it around the courtroom during his murder trial.

“He was pointing the gun at the gallery, and I looked at my attorney. I said, ‘Corey, that’s Gun Safety 101’. Loaded or unloaded, treat a gun like it’s loaded,” he said, referring to his lawyer, Corey Chirafisi.

Mr Rittenhouse did not specify what he plans to do now that he has been acquitted. During his trial, he said he planned to take online courses at Arizona State University in hopes of becoming a nurse. However, The Arizona Republic confirmed that Mr Rittenhouse is not currently enrolled at the school.

Following his trial, Mr Rittenhouse has made the rounds on conservative media programmes, most notably doing an interview with Fox News' Tucker Carlson in which he claimed he supported the Black Lives Matter movement and claimed he was not a “racist person”.

The podcast episode wasn't the first time Mr Kirk spoke with someone accused of promoting political violence this year. The right-wing media figure made headlines when a man attending one of his talks asked him when he and other conservatives like him could begin killing people.

“At this point, we're living under corporate and medical fascism. This is tyranny. When do we get to use the guns?” a man asked during Mr Kirk's appearance at a Turning Point USA event. The man's question drew applause. “No, and I’m not – that’s not a joke. I’m not saying it like that. I mean, literally, where’s the line? How many elections are they going to steal before we kill these people?”

Mr Kirk quickly shut down the man's question, but rather than telling him it was wrong to want to kill your political opponents, he baselessly claimed that open violence was what liberals wanted in order to justify crackdowns on conservatives.

“You’re playing into all their plans, and they’re trying to make you do this … ,” Mr Kirk said. “They are trying to provoke you and everyone here. They are trying to make you do something that will be violent that will justify a takeover of your freedoms and liberties, the likes of which we have never seen.”