Judge Drops Rittenhouse Gun Charge

Kenosha County Judge Bruce Schroeder has dismissed a misdemeanor gun charge against Kyle Rittenhouse, arguing that Wisconsin’s open carry law is so confusingly written it can be interpreted to mean 17-year-olds can openly carry firearms as long as they’re not short-barrel rifles.

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Nov 17, 2021 - 08:00
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Judge Drops Rittenhouse Gun Charge

Kyle Rittenhouse. Photo by Dexter KLacy via Flickr

Kenosha County Judge Bruce Schroeder has dismissed a misdemeanor gun charge against Kyle Rittenhouse, arguing that Wisconsin’s open carry law is so confusingly written it can be interpreted to mean 17-year-olds can openly carry firearms as long as they’re not short-barrel rifles, reports the Chicago Tribune.

He believed the jury could only convict if prosecutors proved the barrel of Rittenhouse’s rifle was less than 16 inches and has an overall length shorter than 26 inches.
The AR-15-style rifle Rittenhouse used to fatally shoot two men and injure a third is 35 inches long with a barrel length of 16 inches. 

Under defense questioning, a Kenosha police detective said he believed the Smith & Wesson M & P 15 was standard size.

Prosecutor’s argued that Schroeder’s interpretation of the law does not make sense as it would mean that it would be illegal for a 17-year-old to carry brass knuckles in Wisconsin but permissible to carry a semi-automatic rifle. The state law says “any person under 18 years of age who possesses or goes armed with a dangerous weapon is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.”

It defines a dangerous weapon as any “firearm, loaded or unloaded,” as well as metallic knucks, nunchaku, pointed stars and other items.

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