BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation today condemned the American Civil Liberties Union for what it called a “deplorable reaction” to the not guilty verdict in the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse by a jury in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Following the verdict, the ACLU posted this message via Twitter: “Despite Kyle Rittenhouse’s conscious decision to travel across state lines and injure one person and take the lives of two people protesting the shooting of Jacob Blake by police, he was not held responsible for his actions.”

SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb was stunned at the ACLU’s reaction.

“While the ACLU should have been complaining about the conduct of prosecutors in the Rittenhouse case,” Gottlieb stated, “the organization instead is calling Rittenhouse a deliberate killer, perpetuating the myth that he deliberately crossed state lines to kill people. It is shocking for the ACLU, which has a long record of defending the rights of individuals against government prosecution to make such an outrageous statement.

“Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted by a jury of seven women and five men for defending himself against multiple attackers in the middle of a riot,” Gottlieb continued. “By being tried in court, he essentially was being held responsible for his actions, which the jury’s verdict clearly indicates were justified under the circumstances.

“We saw the same video evidence everyone else did,” he added. “Any reasonable person who viewed the videos and heard the testimony would easily conclude Kyle Rittenhouse acted in self-defense.”

The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation's oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.