Alex Jeffrey Pretti is dead. Trump called him a domestic terrorist. Noem asserted that he was there to “massacre law enforcement.” She said “I don’t know of any peaceful protester who shows up with a gun and ammunition rather than a sign.” Video leaves no doubt that Pretti never brandished a gun, pointed a gun, reached for a gun or otherwise used a gun against anyone. It appears he “was armed” with a gun. He had a permit for a concealed weapon.
To the extent there was any excuse for pumping ten bullets into his body, it was because he had a weapon* on his person.** As loyal Trump sycophant who pretends to be the United States Attorney for the Central District of California, Bill Essayli twitted, “If you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you.”
What happened to the right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment?
The inherent conflict between the Second Amendment and the fear of law enforcement that an armed person presents a threat of death has long been recognized. Under some circumstances, it can be fairly easily mitigated, such as a person stopped for a traffic offense who immediately advises the police officer that he’s armed. Under other circumstances, however, there is no easy solution.
When federal agents pepper sprayed, then tackled, then pummeled and kicked Alex Pretti, there was no opportunity for him to inform the agents that he had a permitted gun on him. Since he never brandished it or otherwise threatened any agent with a gun, they didn’t know it until they saw it as he was being beaten for trying to aid a woman who had been violently pushed to the ground for no apparent reason other than the agent chose to use force.
Dana Loesch, long time NRA spokesperson and gun apologist, did her best to come up with an excuse for why this was different than Kyle Rittenhouse showing up at a demonstration with a gun.
Rittenhouse didn’t obstruct an operation or fight with agents. He was attacked by literal convicted pedos. That’s why these two situations aren’t even remotely comparable. This isn’t rocket science.
It’s not rocket science. It’s nonsensical. The issue was coming to a protest armed, and one involved a minor with a rifle and the other involved a ICU nurse with a concealed carry permit and a gun that never came out until it was taken out by an agent before shots were fired into the nurse.
It’s unclear why the agent who fired the ten rounds into Pretti did so. It’s unlikely that a truthful answer will ever be known, as DHS reached an immediate (and foregone) conclusion that the agent was a hero, then did everything it could to make a real investigation impossible. There is no chance that DHS will provide the agent to state investigators for questioning. Without better information, the best that can be said for the shooter was that he reacted to the gun, whether seeing it or hearing another agent say “gun” or some other variant.
But what that means is that the exercise of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms means that you can be executed for nothing more than “being armed.”
Some will argue that Pretti’s “being armed” comes in conjunction with his fighting with or resisting the gaggle of agents taking him down for committing the offense of trying to help the woman who was harshly pushed down and pepper sprayed for no particular reason. While the claim that Pretti either initiated or caused the agents to have to beat him is belied by video, it’s also irrelevant. It’s still not a capital offense, no matter how it’s spinned. The only additional factor is that there was a gun on his person, and that means “being armed” is enough to kill.
Alex Jeffrey Pretti was killed for lawfully exercising the fundamental constitutional right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment. And those one might expect to stand up for that right are having a very hard time of it. They don’t want to take the side of dead Alex Pretti against their brave heroes of the federal government, but like it or not, Pretti is their Second Amendment martyr.
*The picture of “the” gun shown that has made the rounds may not be Pretti’s gun, but an image of a gun taken off social media.
**The video shows an CBP agent holding a gun that appears to have been taken from Pretti before the shooting. There appears to be no gun on Pretti’s person at the time he was killed.
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“Under some circumstances, it can be fairly easily mitigated, such as a person stopped for a traffic offense who immediately advises the police officer that he’s armed. “.
Note, this did not work for Philando Castille.
This was an outright execution, and that comes from someone who actually defends, in court, LEO shoots. Minnesota must ID the shooter and arrest him.
the woman who was harshly pushed to the ground can be seen blowing a loud whistle inches away from an agent’s face. that is not peaceful protest.
[Ed. Note: I thought others should see what I have to put up with.]
While the shooting, “execution” to use skink’s term, concerns and alarms me it is the administration’s efforts to excuse the action/ blame the victim that really frighten me.
Bovino made a comment that Pretti having spare magazines on his person suggested he was intending to inflict “mass casualties”. This from the man leading a force wearing body armor, helmets, web gear bedecked w/ ammo and grenade pouches, and wearing masks.
Other administration officials have characterized Pretti as a “domestic terrorist”. Again implying that he intended violence, when AFAICT there’s no evidence to support the claim that this was his intention.
It’s long been observed that “truth is the first casualty of war”, but when our government reflexively lies to us to excuse their use of violence against the citizenry… the situation is indeed dire.
[Ed. Note: Bovino says Pretti had spare magazines. Do you believe him?]
Scott,
I did believe accept the claim, almost reflexively. On some level, I’m aware of being lied to “on the regular” by gov’t officials and media outlets, but “normalcy bias: persists.
Bovin’s was quoted as saying this was a “situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement”. AFAICT, there’s no evidence to support his contention.
IF the weapon that’s been shown belonged to Pretti (I’d not seen/ heard anything to cast doubt on this before your post, but should probably have been more skeptical), it’s quite likely that he was carrying spare magazines. The pistol shown has a red dot sight, an aftermarket beveled mag well extension, and appears the barrel is designed to accept a suppressor. To me this suggests he was either someone who actually knew what he was doing, or was a LARPER who’d spent a lot of money to look like he knew what he was doing (given Pretti’s profession, I’d bet on the former), in either case the spare magazines seem reasonable.
This, though, ASSumes the pistol show was his and unfortunately we can’t trust the media or ICE.
I hate living in interesting times.
Tough times we’re living in.
I also did not know that the gun they kept showing wasn’t the one they took from him, but I was confused. Because if you watch the video — which admittedly is blurry — the gun the agent removed from Pretti’s holster does not look the same.
The government has shown a willingness not just to kill American citizens in what appears to be cold-blood, but also to lie about it. Even in court.
At the risk of getting slapped again, I won’t say how this appears to me. But it is something that needs to be reversed if we are to survive as anything remotely like the nation we have been.
Speaking as a concealed carry license holder, I ALWAYS have at least one extra magazine in my pocket when I am carrying and a couple more in a bag in my car. I would rarely expect to see a serious carrier to not have one or more.
Most people who carry regularly/ have taken classes/ know what they’re doing will carry a spare magazine, though the percentage of armed encounters where a permit holder has had to reload, most likely, rounds to zero. Better to have it and not need it, etc.
Kash Patel commented, “No one who wants to be peaceful shows up at a protest with a firearm that is loaded with two full magazines. That is not a peaceful protest, and you do not get to touch law enforcement. You do that anywhere, this FBI is going to be following — leading the charge to arrest those.” Setting aside for the moment the inanity of claiming the firearm was “loaded with two full magazines”, and the implication that one who is grabbed/ punched/ kicked is improperly touching law enforcement.Patel echoes Bovino in suggesting that by being armed Pretti was doing something wrong/ potentially illegal. (To his credit, Patel, was marginally more coherent than the president… but that’s a low bar.)
While I ascribe to Farnam’s “Rules of Gun Fighting” (#1 – Don’t Be There, #2 – Get out of there) and, personally, would have avoided the protest… this is asinine. Bovino/ Noem/ Patel et. al., do not get to determine the circumstances under which the Bill of Rights applies.
Second Amendment Martyr? No. He should not have gone to this event armed. Neither should have Kyle Rittenhouse who was also not a martyr for having been prosecuted for shooting his AR-15. Whatever happened with the prosecution of the adult who bought the AR-15 for Kyle Rittenhouse? It doesn’t matter what your Second Amendment rights are, it is simply colossally stupid to go to a chaotic protest where people are actively harassing and interfering with a law enforcement operation where heavily armed ICE agents under a lot of pressure in a chaotic situation and then interject yourself when a woman is violently shoved. I’m not saying that these agents should even be in Minneapolis. I’m not saying that it was right to shove the woman like that, and I not saying he deserved to be shot (truly awful, sickening-all that life he had ahead to enjoy and look forward to, this is simply a terrible tragedy). But why was Alex Pretti there with a gun? Stupid. I listened to the oral argument in Brien in real time. When Amy Coney Barrett asked the New York attorney general if she believed Heller and McDonald were simply wrongly decided, she should have simply said “yes,” because they were. I think it was John Paul Steven’s who said that the expansive interpretation of theSecondAmendment is the greatest fraud perpetrated on the American people. This young man dedicated himself to the service of others as a nurse, a vocation dedicated to the preservation of human life. So antithetical to that ideal to be walking around armed at a riot regardless of his Second Amendment rights. These are just my opinions. I understand many people will disagree, but there are just too many guns. Alex Pretti seemed like a nice young man. This was a terrible way to start the weekend. DHS needs to calm this situation down quietly leaving Minneapolis to let the situation simmer down. But I fear thatKristi Noem,who shot her dog instead of taking it to a vet to be humanely euthanized assuming that was even necessary, will double down.
“It doesn’t matter what your Second Amendment rights are.”
Wrong.
We deal with the law and facts as they are and not how we wish them to be. Alex Pretti made a different choice than you would have, as was his right to do. He made no effort for his weapon and was disarmed immediately prior to being shot to death in the back while on his hands and knees in broad daylight on an American street. Protest peacefully more and not less. The alternative is to accept a police state, which I previously thought my fellow citizens would find intolerable.
From comments I’ve seen in a number of places, there is a lot of “rights for me but not for thee” coming from Trump supporters. I’ve been in and around gun culture for 50 years and have never heard, nor would I expect to hear, a phrase like “too much ammunition” or “too many magazines”, but those are part of a common theme amongst those who think ICE can do no wrong. It is bizarre that the right thinks that 2nd Amendment rights disappear when a citizen uses their 1st Amendment rights to protest government actions.
This incident looks like a poorly trained government employee saw a firearm and started shooting, all while not noticing that a colleague had already disarmed Pretti. That implies zero communication among the agents and a lack of situational awareness due to poor training and poor tactics. The inability to effectively deal with protesters is another indication of poor training.
Every gun-loving American should be out there standing in solidarity with Alex Pretti, but they won’t because they are hypocrites, using the most generous of terms. “From my cold dead hands” indeed.
NRA, who I was directly criticizing, has actually stood up for an investigation into the shooting on twitter and decried attempts to label Alex Pretti as not law-abiding simply because of his possession of a gun while protesting. It’s about fucking time. They should have been rioting over Castile too, but he was too brown I guess. There’s plenty of video out there already to condemn the officer’s bad shoot, but hey I’ll take anything consistent from the gun nuts at this point.
Being attacked by federal agents while armed is not a death sentence. Repeat as many times as necessary.
Those who stand against the 2nd amendment haven’t changed their mind – they simply imagine the federal government will only protect them when led by their political party. By the way, “[That] Video leaves no doubt that Pretti never brandished a gun,…” You obviously don’t know “there was no opportunity for him to inform the agents that he had a permitted gun on him” or whether he did so moments beforehand.
[Ed. Note: If only there was a video or five.]
Petti had a right to carry. His death was the result of ICE agents escalating non violent protest to violent confrontations. If ICE agents exercised the judgment and training we used to expect from law enforcement personnel, Alex Petti would not have been shot. ICE should be withdrawn from American cities that don’t want ICE enforcement.
But carrying a firearm to an anti-ICE protest is as stupid and provocative as Kyle Rittenhouse open carrying at a BLM protest. Carrying implies responsibility to avoid situations where you might have to use the gun or where the gun might provoke a violent reaction from someone else. Petti should have left his gun at home or in the car. If Petti was at the protest with a firearm he shouldn’t have illegally gone into the street while carrying. The most irresponsible thing Petti did was physically intervening when the ICE agents were attacking the woman protestor. The gun was removed about a second before the firing started. The situation was chaotic. Someone probably shouted “gun! gun! gun!” and the shooter may have believed the other officers and the victim were struggling over a firearm. The Renee Good killing was unjustified homicide. Here, the shooter may have a defense. But the feds won’t do a fair or credible investigation. And the fact that the shooter may have believed he was acting defensively does not justify the fact that ICE agents unjustifiably escalated a non-violent protest into a confrontation that led to Petti’s killing.
The elephant in the room is that none of this would have happened if the ICE agents had maturity and training we used to expect and require of law enforcement. Why are ICE agents running up to non-violent demonstrators, pepper spraying them, assaulting them, tasering and sometimes shooting them? Why can’t ICE agents walk, not run, up to protestors illegally in the street and calmly say: “Ma’am, if you don’t move to the sidewalk I will place you under arrest” The videos I see show ICE agents consistently responding to disrespect with violence and escalating protests into violent confrontations. ICE agents appear to have no training in deescalation and appear to be looking for opportunities to punish or harm demonstrators who disrespect them.
So let’s condemn ICE and demand that they be withdrawn from Minneapolis. But let’s not pretend that it was is not irresponsible for this victim to have physically intervened in an [unjustified] law enforcement action while carrying a firearm.
Why are ICE agents engaging with protesters at all? Why are they performing ANY law enforcement activities outside of immigration-related ones? Those are the questions you are failing to ask. Whether Pretti was ill-advised to exercise the rights that he was perfectly allowed to exercise at that time is beside the point.