Flowers are left at a makeshift memorial in the area where Alex Pretti was shot dead by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Photo / Octavio Jones, AFP
United States gun rights activists have argued for years that carrying a gun in public is a sacrosanct right protected by the US Second Amendment.
Now, US President Donald Trump’s Administration, one that received considerable support from gun rights organisations, appears to be questioning that right by arguing that federal agents were justified in shooting Alex Pretti, the man killed in Minneapolis this weekend, because he was carrying a firearm.
“I don’t know of any peaceful protester that shows up with a gun and ammunition rather than a sign,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said.
“He brought a gun. He brought a gun,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. “I’ve been to a protest. Guess what? I didn’t bring a gun, I brought a billboard.”
“You cannot bring a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want. It’s that simple. You don’t have a right to break the law,” FBI Director Kash Patel said.
This rhetoric is wholly at odds with what Republicans, including Noem, have said about gun ownership.
“The Second Amendment is about deterrence. It is about ensuring the government respects the rights and liberty of citizens,” Noem said during a speech to the National Rifle Association in 2023.
“Why do the liberals and Joe Biden want our guns? Because it will make it easier for them to infringe on all our other rights.”
This disconnect has turned the shooting of Pretti into a watershed moment for the gun rights activists, the Second Amendment movement, and politicians who have benefitted from these groups’ support.
While Pretti did have a firearm on him as he recorded Border Patrol officers on Sunday, videos show that the 37-year-old ICU nurse with Veterans Affairs did not pull out his gun and was disarmed before being shot.
The Gun Owners of America swiftly criticised what it called “untoward comments” made by Bill Essayli, US Attorney for the Central District of California, who wrote on Sunday: “If you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you”.
“Federal agents are not ‘highly likely’ to be ‘legally justified’ in ‘shooting’ concealed carry licensees who approach while lawfully carrying a firearm,” the group wrote.
“The Second Amendment protects Americans’ right to bear arms while protesting - a right the federal government must not infringe upon.”
The National Rifle Association also took a swing at Essayli, writing that his argument was “dangerous and wrong”.
Though the group’s initial statement on Pretti’s death largely focused on Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, arguing that he “incited violence against law enforcement officers who are simply trying to do their jobs”.
Pretti, who local authorities said had a permit to carry the gun, was doing what many other protesters have done at anti-Covid or pro-gun events: Carry a weapon.
Images from anti-Covid lockdown events in 2020 or pro-gun events for decades routinely feature people wielding weapons.
When one such gun rights event took place in Virginia in 2020, Trump tweeted: “I will NEVER allow our great Second Amendment to go unprotected, not even a little bit!”
Some Republicans, primarily those who have broken with Trump, have noted the contradiction inherent in the Administration’s rhetoric.
Mike Pence, Trump’s former Vice-President, responded to the shooting with a lengthy post that, among other things, said Americans deserve the right to “peaceable assembly and the right to keep and bear Arms respected and preserved all at the same time”.
Former Georgia GOP Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote that “legally carrying a firearm is not the same as brandishing a firearm”.
These responses reflect the traditional conservative line that guns, so long as they are purchased legally, should be welcome wherever their owners would like to bring them.
Remember how Colorado GOP Representative Lauren Boebert promised to bring a gun to Congress - and then shocked colleagues by displaying her guns during a virtual House committee hearing.
And they are vastly different than the rhetoric offered by many lawmakers defending the Trump Administration.
For example, Senator Markwayne Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican, took to Fox News and described Pretti as a “deranged individual” who joined the protest to “cause massive damage with a loaded pistol, with an extra mag that was completely loaded”.
Just a month ago, Mullin wrote on Facebook that “restricting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans only makes criminals’ jobs safer. The US Constitution is clear: ‘shall NOT be infringed.’”
The White House said today that its stance on the Second Amendment has not changed, but White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Americans should be cognisant that there is a chance of “force being used against you” if you’re armed during an encounter with law enforcement.
“While Americans have a constitutional right to bear arms, Americans do not have a constitutional right to impede lawful immigration enforcement operations,” Leavitt said.
To be clear, the Trump Administration and its allies are not saying that America needs to rethink its relationship with guns or that they don’t believe in the Second Amendment.
But this week’s language is a marked departure for a party that has routinely argued that all law-abiding Americans should be able to arm themselves, including in public spaces.
The question is whether that rhetorical shift leads gun owners who back the GOP because of its historic stance to soften their support.
And some gun owners worry about the precedent Pretti’s death could cause - including some at gun violence prevention groups.
“As a gun owner, I’m appalled,” said Eric LaGesse, an operative with Giffords Gun Owners for Safety, a group named for former representative Gabby Giffords, who was shot in 2011.
“The Trump Administration claims to support the Second Amendment, but their actions put legally carrying gun owners at risk.”
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