There are few people who can quite express what it’s like to need a firearm when a mob is chasing you like Kyle Rittenhouse. As a 17-year-old, he found himself in that situation and pulled the trigger when he needed to. Some claim he didn’t, but a jury of his peers found otherwise, and to be honest, it never should have gotten that far.

Since then, he’s sort of enjoyed the life of a celebrity in political circles. After all, he was to be sacrificed on the altar of political necessity, only he actually slipped away again.

Now, he’s turning his attention to something else.

Kyle Rittenhouse has launched an anti-gun control nonprofit in Texas, according to a filing with the Texas Secretary of State’s office, which was first reported on by the Texas Tribune—a sign the young man who became a conservative star after being acquitted of killing two Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020, is ramping up his political activity in Texas.

KEY FACTS

• Rittenhouse filed with the Secretary of State on July 23 to create the Rittenhouse Foundation, a nonprofit based in Fort Worth, Texas, which aims to protect “an individual’s inalienable right to bear arms” through “education and legal assistance,” according to the filing.
• Rittenhouse is listed as a director alongside Chris McNutt, president of the gun advocacy group Texas Gun Rights and Shelby Griesinger, treasurer of the Defend Texas Liberty PAC, which has financed the campaigns of right-wing candidates across the state.

To be honest, I can’t say that I saw this coming from Rittenhouse, but I also can’t say I’m surprised.

The truth is that Rittenhouse is never going to be able to hold down a traditional job. Anywhere that hires him is likely to be hounded until he’s fired. I mean, they did that with a college that accepted him, so why would it be any different with a job?

The only way he was going to make a living was to find somehow he could use his status and do it in a way that would be cancel-proof.

No gun rights organization is going to remove one of its founders simply because anti-gunners hate him for refusing to be murdered by a rampaging mob. That’s just not likely to happen, so this makes a lot of sense for Rittenhouse.

At least, it does for him personally.

Does this do anything good for Texas or gun rights in general?

Well, that remains to be seen. After all, this is just the formation of a group. They haven’t had a chance to do anything yet or even really get into what their plan is.

What I can see is that Rittenhouse has a name and a status that is likely to help the group to some degree and, well, we know he can handle himself under pressure, so there’s no reason to believe he’d fold because of bad press. I mean, he hasn’t yet, so that’s good news for whatever efforts his new group undertakes.

Frankly, I’m looking forward to seeing what the group takes on, how they approach it, and how effective they really are.