Failing to follow the complex mess of rules that anti-gunners have created, is not a "mountain of wrong", it is a technical violation.
A "technical violation" would be if I, as a 58 year old man, left out my middle name on a gun registration form (which, thankfully, we don't have here in Florida). Regardless of who instituted "the complex mess of rules", rules is rules.
Now, in the case of Rittenhouse, neither his home state of Illinois nor the state of Wisconsin permit a minor to purchase a firearm. Also in both states, it's illegal for a minor to possess a firearm unless the minor is engaged in a course of instruction (like a safety class) or while engaged in a sporting activity (skeet shooting, hunting) when supervised by an adult.
None of those circumstances existed...
And yes, Rittenhouse did not know that the disturbed man leading the violent mob that attacked him, was a convinced pedophile, but he could see how dangerous he was. The fact that he was a child molester and an ex-con is relevant to judging who was likely the instigator in the violence, by us, after the fact arm chair quarter backs.
I fully understand the salaciousness of repeatedly identifying someone in a negative light but, in this case, it's just not pertinent.
But, as to how it speaks to who the instigator might be, I'm not willing to dismiss the possibility that the instigator could've have well been the minor who illegally armed himself, crossed state lines and killed someone...
Everything after the gun purchase, is not "built" on that.
Yeah, actually it is...
Rittenhouse still had the right to be there. He had a right to walk down that street. I'm still a little fuzzy on what justification the cops prevented him from rejoining his group.
He had absolutely no right to be there and he had no right to walk down that street. There was a curfew in effect and he was violating it...
If Rittenhouse did not get THAT gun, it is likely that he could have gotten ANOTHER gun, and possibly legally.
As I've pointed out, that possibility did not exist. As a 17 year old kid, he could not legally purchase a firearm...
Hell, he might have gone just to provide medical first aid support and then, when the mob attacked, he would have just been beaten, possibly to death, and he would have been a statistic like all teh other people killed in these years of riots since the Left decided to get violent.
What "medical first aid support" training did Rittenhouse have?