Bottom line, Rittenhouse a wannabe hero (who is a hero now in the warring crowd) who went where he wasn't wanted and shouldn't have been. And he went armed. Those guys get a thrill out of a Rambo touch.
A theoretical: When he was being chased if he had put his gun on the ground and his hands in the air would anyone have been killed?
Odds are i'd say no.
He found himself out of his depth and scared out of his wits, so he ended up murdering two people.
A tragedy all round thanks to your gun culture.
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”