Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger made a bizarre claim during the prosecution’s closing statement in the Kyle Rittenhouse homicide trial on Monday, arguing that the teen lost his “right to self defense” because “you’re the one who brought the gun.” Binger’s argument is not supported by state or federal law, or hundreds of years of Constitutional precedent.
“You can’t claim self defense against an unarmed man like this,” Binger said. “You lose the right to self-defense when you’re the one who brought the gun, when you’re the one creating the danger, when you’re the one provoking other people. The defendants fired four shots at Joseph Rosenbaum and caused five wounds total.”
What. The. Actual. Fuck
Binger: "You lose the right to self-defense when you're the one who brought the gun." pic.twitter.com/2pu7lehnBx
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 15, 2021
Binger’s case has repeatedly resorted to bizarre allegations, including the insinuation that Rittenhouse shot the men attacking him because he wanted to play the video game Call of Duty in real life:
BINGER: “Isn’t it true, when you would hang out with Dominic Black, you would play Call of Duty and other first-person shooter video games?”
RITTENHOUSE: “Sometimes.”
BINGER: “And those are games in which you use weapons like AR-15s to pretty much trying to shoot everyone who comes at you, correct?”
RITTENHOUSE: “it’s video game where two players are playing together, I don’t really understand the meaning of your question, to be honest.”
BINGER: “Isn’t one of the things people do in these video games try and kill everyone else with your guns.”