By Lee Williams
SAF Investigative Journalism Project
Special to Liberty Park Press
President Donald L. Trump was very clear Tuesday when addressing a gaggle of reporters who were asking questions about ongoing problems in Minneapolis, including the shooting death of Alex Pretti, an armed protester.
“You can’t have guns. You can’t walk in with guns,” President Trump said, which caused a reporter to question him about the Second Amendment.
“You can’t walk in with guns,” Trump said in response.
Those two comments caused a stir among the country’s Second Amendment supporters, because the president was very clear in his response, and it wasn’t off-the-cuff. He had plenty of time to consider his answer.
Legally, of course, the president was wrong. Pretti, who was shot and killed by federal agents, had a valid Minnesota concealed-carry permit, even though he did not have any ID. He was absolutely entitled to carry his concealed 9mm Sig P320 during the protest, if that’s what he wanted to do.
So, somehow President Trump got bad information, which he repeated several times. However, rather than focusing on what the president said, we should focus on who actually caused Pretti’s death. That, friends, is definitely not President Trump. A large portion of responsibility for Alex Pretti’s death can be laid squarely at the feet of Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara.
The reason is simple: If local Minneapolis cops had accompanied the federal agents as they were making arrests, Pretti would likely never have been killed.
Local cops have never really understood why federal agents do what they do, especially the way they do it, and the feds probably don’t understand how local law enforcement works either. But one thing is certain: Local cops are infinitely better at using or not using force than any federal agent. It’s all because they use force far more frequently—occasionally multiple times during just one shift. Compare this to your average FBI agent. Some will go their entire career without a single use of force.
This doesn’t mean that federal agents erred during their use-of-force encounter. It’s best to leave that call to the experts, not the millions of anti-gunners who became use-of-force experts overnight. Besides, anyone who has ever been the subject of a use-of-force investigation knows exactly what it’s like to have one or two seconds of your life turned into hours, days and even weeks of negative coverage.
Instead, we should look at Mayor Frey and Police Chief O’Hara, who told their police officers to sit this one out. The feds were on their own in a city they didn’t really know. One thing is almost certain, if Minneapolis Police officers had been at the scene in sufficient numbers, it’s doubtful deadly force would ever have been needed, much less used.
Wide-ranging reaction
Those who oversee the federal agents involved in the shooting should have said they were unable to comment because of the ongoing shooting investigation. Instead, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and others took a different tact.
“This looks like a situation where an individual arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement,” Noem told the media.
She was not alone.
Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino said, “The suspect also had two loaded magazines and no assessable ID. This looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.”
By the next day, Bovino had calmed down, somewhat.
“We respect that Second Amendment right, but those rights don’t count when you riot and assault, delay, obstruct and impede law enforcement officers and, most especially, when you mean to do that beforehand,” Bovino said on CNN.
During an interview on FOX, FBI Director Kash Patel said, “No one who wants to be peaceful shows up at a protest with a firearm that is loaded with two full magazines.”
Trump’s Homeland Security Advisor Stephan Miller described Pretti as an “assassin.”
The worst comments, by far, were from by Bill Essayli, acting U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California.
“If you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you,” Essayli posted on X.
Those who objected to his post, Essayli said, were “Antifa pro-2A accounts working overtime to justify violence against law enforcement.”
Senator Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, was concerned about the agents involved, who he hoped would be placed on leave, but he also questioned the comments he was hearing.
“Local police routinely put officers involved in deadly shootings on administrative leave until an independent investigation is concluded. That should happen immediately. I can’t recall ever hearing a police chief immediately describing the victim as a ‘domestic terrorist’ or a ‘would-be assassin,’” Paul posted.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis blamed Joe Biden’s border policy, which he said caused federal agents to “ratchet up enforcement efforts so significantly.”
DeSantis, too, held local leaders responsible for the shooting.
“That is not appropriate, for a state Governor to be inciting, a Mayor to be inciting,” he said. “If you don’t like the fact that we have immigration laws, then you should have done a better job when you were in power to try to convince the public that what you wanted to do is right.”
Takeaways
Despite all the political blather, the Second Amendment gave Pretti the right to carry his handgun in public, and the Fourth Amendment should have stopped the government from killing him for it.
So, why was he killed?
None of the major news networks have mentioned how well the opposition is organized. They use secure communications, maps and charts. Members are organized into specific teams and are armed with cellphone cameras and whistles. They confront and harass federal agents constantly, wherever they go. Observers even watch where the agents park overnight, and they record the license plates of their vehicles when they depart the next morning.
There is little doubt these actions played a role in Pretti’s death.
Ultimately, Trump wants to see the post-shooting investigation. He will personally examine whatever federal investigators conclude.
“I’m going to be watching over, and I want a very honorable and honest investigation,” he told the media this week. “I have to see it myself.”
The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project wouldn’t be possible without you. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this.
