Last week in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Kyle Rittenhouse allegedly shot and killed two men. A video shows him being chased by several attackers, one brandishing a handgun, when he shot the second man. While various media outlets have sought to characterize Rittenhouse as a white supremacist, a militia member, a police idolizer, and a fan of the Second Amendment, there has been little discussion of why a 17-year-old from the neighboring state of Illinois appears to have answered the call to defend Kenosha from “violent thugs.”

So, why was a 17-year-old from Illinois armed in Kenosha? In the wake of sustained mob violence and the Left’s movement to defund and dismantle the police, the job of maintaining law and order has begun to fall upon ordinary citizens to band together as home guards or armed neighborhood watches to protect life and property. Rittenhouse told a reporter that “[p]eople are getting injured, and [my] job is to protect this business, and part of my job is to also help people. If there’s somebody hurt, I’m running into harm’s way. That’s why I have my rifle because I need to protect myself, obviously.”