After 37-year-old Alex Pretti was shot and killed by Border Patrol agents on Saturday in Minneapolis, it sparked a debate about the rights Americans have.
Pretti was an intensive care unit nurse, and, according to the Department of Homeland Security, he had a 9 millimeter semi-automatic handgun on him when he clashed with agents on Saturday.
Pretti is now the second American citizen killed by federal officials since they began immigration enforcement efforts in Minnesota, after 37-year-old Renee Good was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent earlier this month.
Good’s death sparked weeks of protests across the Twin Cities ahead of Pretti’s death.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara confirmed that Pretti was a lawful gun owner who had a permit to carry, as the debate following his death is centered around the intersection of people’s First and Second Amendment rights.
How is Pretti’s death sparking a gun rights debate?
In recent years, gun rights advocates are typically on the political right, while the left has increasingly expressed skepticism of the Second Amendment.
Members of the Trump administration, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, labeled Pretti as a dangerous individual who attempted to impede law enforcement operations. FBI Director Kash Patel echoed the sentiment that it wasn’t a peaceful protest when the man showed up armed.
Video from the altercation between Pretti and federal agents showed that he confronted an officer with his phone filming in his hand and was later helping a woman who was pushed by an agent to the ground. Several officers surrounded him, and a scuffle ensued. One officer disarmed Pretti before the fatal shots were fired.
President Donald Trump, in a series of social media posts on Sunday argued that Pretti and Good’s deaths were because of Democratic leaders. Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller shared online that Pretti was a “would-be assassin” who tried to “murder federal agents.” Pretti’s family, friends and colleagues have pushed back, saying that he spent his life working to care for others and died trying to do so as well.
But Pretti’s death has also sparked a debate in which it seems that opinions on the right to bear arms under the Second Amendment have flipped.
O’Hara confirmed that Pretti was a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry in Minnesota, where residents can carry a handgun in public with a permit and the guns do not need to be concealed.
While details surrounding Pretti’s death are still under investigation, video footage of the altercation appear to show that Pretti had his hands on his cellphone and the ground, not on his gun, which was on his hip.
What is the debate?
Megan Walsh, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School who specializes in the Second Amendment, said on CNN that the Trump administration has tried to push back in court on state laws that regulate firearms so it is “pretty shocking” to see the administration now “use an example of a lawful gun owner as justification for force.”
Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino on Sunday told CNN’s Dana Bash that the administration respects the right to bear arms, but the right doesn’t count “when you riot and assault, delay, obstruct and impede law enforcement officers and, most especially, when you mean to do that beforehand.”
But the administration’s rhetoric wasn’t backed by gun rights groups. The National Rifle Association issued a statement Saturday that urged politicians to lower the temperature as the investigation into Pretti’s death continues and details emerge to determine “if the use of force was justified.”
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., shared online that Americans can carry firearms and it should not mean it will be a death sentence.
“It’s a Constitutionally protected God-given right, and if you don’t understand this you have no business in law enforcement or government,” Massie said.
The Gun Owners of America organization has also joined the debate, saying that they were saddened by the loss of life in the federal law enforcement operation in Minneapolis.
The organization pushed back on comments from U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, a top prosecutor in Los Angeles, who said that if an individual approaches a law enforcement officer there is a “high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you.” Essayli later clarified that he stands by his advice that individuals should not aggressively approach law enforcement who are legally permitted to use deadly force if they perceive a threat and fail to disarm.
“We condemn the untoward comments of U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli. Federal agents are not ‘highly likely’ to be ‘legally justified’ in ‘shooting’ concealed carry licensees who approach while lawfully carrying a firearm,” Gun Owners of America said. “The Second Amendment protects Americans’ right to bear arms while protesting – a right the federal government must not infringe upon.”
It appears that Pretti’s death also led some to change course about how they view ICE’s presence in Minnesota.
On Fox News on Monday morning, Lisa Kennedy, a host, said all sides of the political spectrum on this issue need to deescalate.
“Everyone needs to deescalate, everyone needs to offer a little bit of diplomacy, because we cannot have this on repeat. It is politically disastrous for the president and also not the kind of civil society we need to live in,” she said.
Trey Gowdy, a former Republican lawmaker from South Carolina and a Fox News host, said that he believes the frustration toward the administration over making Pretti the bad guy for showing up to a protest with a gun stems from the hero treatment given to Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot three people, two of them fatally, during a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest.
“I’m sure there are people on the conservative side who are saying, ‘wait a minute,’” Gowdy said. “You mean you can’t take a firearm to a protest because you were just celebrating the guy for doing it a couple of years ago.”
Gowdy also noted that the country “certainly should not be labeling him as a domestic terrorist who was going to execute cops.” There is no evidence to support that, he said.
The National Association for Gun Rights also shared that thousands have gathered across the country to support Second Amendment rights.
“The mere presence of a firearm is not evidence of criminal intent. Anyone who claims to be pro-gun should never suggest otherwise,” the organization said. “Gun owners do this, peacefully, every time a Blue state tries to pass gun control.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked about the administration’s stance on both the First and Second Amendment rights of Americans during a press briefing on Monday.
Leavitt said that “of course” all Americans have the First Amendment right to protest and film federal officers.
“But Americans do not have a constitutional right to impede and obstruct lawful immigration enforcement operations. That is actually a crime, and it’s something that we’ve seen taking place in the streets of Minneapolis, which again, is leading to these dangerous circumstances that these federal law enforcement officers have been forced to work within,” she said.
She later confirmed that Trump “absolutely” supports the Second Amendment of “law abiding American citizens.”
“There has been no greater supporter or defender of the right to bear arms than President Donald J. Trump,” Leavitt said. “So while Americans have a constitutional right to bear arms, Americans do not have a constitutional right to impede lawful immigration enforcement operations and any gun owner knows that when you are carrying a weapon, when you are bearing arms, and you are confronted by law enforcement, you are raising the assumption of risk and the risk of force being used against you, and again, that’s unfortunately what took place on Saturday.”
What is the current scene in Minneapolis?
Trump shared on Monday that he had a “very good” call with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who, for weeks, has called on the president to remove federal officers from the state.
It appears that for the first time since ICE agents were deployed to Minneapolis, both men could now be working to turn down the temperature.
On Sunday evening, Trump said he was calling on Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and all other Democrats to “formally cooperate with the Trump Administration to enforce our Nation’s Laws, rather than resist and stoke the flames of Division, Chaos, and Violence.” But after Monday’s morning call with Walz, Trump shifted his tune.
Trump said that he is sending border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota on Monday evening. Homan, who Trump said has “not been involved in that area,” said he knows and likes many of the people there.
“Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me,” he said.
Trump also posted that Walz requested they work together “with respect to Minnesota.
“It was a very good call, and we, actually, seemed to be on a similar wavelength. I told Governor Walz that I would have Tom Homan call him, and that what we are looking for are any and all Criminals that they have in their possession,” Trump said. “The Governor, very respectfully, understood that, and I will be speaking to him in the near future.”