Alternate Outcome for Kyle Rittenhouse

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In 1917 Sears, Roebuck and Company published a Military Equipment catalog. They offered a 30-caliber Colt machine gun for $865 (about $25k in 2026 dollars).

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Military Equipment, by Sears, Roebuck and Co.

Chuck Petras @Chuck_Petras
Posted on X October 3, 2026

From a Sears and Roebuck catalog and available to anyone with the money. We still have a long way to go.

Note the suggested use case:

Machine guns are used largely by police organizations, home guards and municipalities in case of riots.

Had the police used the riot control methods of 1917, the “summer of love” would not have resulted in Kyle Rittenhouse being put on trial.

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7 thoughts on “Alternate Outcome for Kyle Rittenhouse”

  1. See also Rancher v Bandits ad for Tommy guns. No evidence for Sears though.

    • “No evidence” seems pretty strong to say. Either they were in fact looking through said catalog, or someone put in a LOT of effort in making a convincing fake.

      Admittedly, actual photos of the full pages, with the transcribed text additionally instead of just the merchandise drawings, would have been better.

  2. If the Sears gun had been used in the original summer of love, we might not be saddled with the GCA ’68, or any of its unconstitutional successors.

  3. Not that I disagree with the sentiment, but I think it needs to be pointed out that a government could just as easily call *actual* peaceful protests “riots” as the left wing propaganda machine, aka “Mainstream Media” labels *actual* riots as “mostly peaceful protests”.
    So lets bring back the Sears and Roebuck mail order machine guns*, but keep a close eye on those in police hands.

    *Modern machining practices ought to get that price down by more than half…..

    • MUCH lower than half. In terms of production costs, machine guns are just as easy to make as most modern sporting rifles.

      Arguably, making semi-auto is MORE work, actually.

      They’d probably need to be a bit more robust due to expected firing quantity, especially in a shorter time period, but that’s it. For low-end ones (that can more easily slag themselves due to heat but that plenty of people would still buy), you wouldn’t really even need to worry about that.

      Your other point (about peaceful vs “peaceful”) is spot on, unfortunately…

  4. When I was 18, I picked out a nice 7×57 Mauser from a barrel of them sitting in the lobby of the local Montgomery Wards catalog store.

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