Gun rights advocates say it’s legal to carry firearms during protests. But administration officials are questioning why Alex Pretti was armed.
The killing of Alex Pretti after an encounter with federal immigration officers Saturday in Minneapolis spurred notable tension with the GOP’s long-standing support for gun rights. Officials say Pretti was armed, but no bystander videos that have surfaced so far appear to show him holding a weapon. The Minneapolis police chief said Pretti had a permit to carry a gun.
Yet administration officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, have questioned why he was armed. Speaking on ABC’s “This Week” Bessent said that when he has attended protests, “I didn’t bring a gun. I brought a billboard.”
Such comments were notable for a party where support for the Second Amendment’s protection of gun ownership is foundational. Indeed, many in the GOP, including President Donald Trump, lifted Kyle Rittenhouse into prominence when the then-17-year-old former police youth cadet shot three men, killing two of them, during a 2020 protest in Wisconsin against police brutality.
