Gun Rights Debate Intensifies After Fatal Minneapolis Shooting

Prominent Republicans and gun rights advocates have forced a White House retreat after the administration initially characterized Alex Pretti, the second person killed this month by federal officers in Minneapolis, as responsible for his own death because he lawfully possessed a weapon.

The controversial shooting has exposed inconsistencies in Republican positions on Second Amendment rights while creating political complications for President Donald Trump ahead of midterm elections, with voters already skeptical of his immigration enforcement approach.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt attempted to clarify the administration’s position Monday, stating: “The president supports the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding American citizens, absolutely.” However, she added that “when you are bearing arms and confronted by law enforcement, you are raising the risk of force being used against you.”

This represents a notable shift from earlier administration statements about Pretti’s death. The president dispatched border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota the same day, apparently sidelining Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino, who had been overseeing operations in Minneapolis.

Within hours of Saturday’s shooting, Bovino had suggested Pretti “wanted to massacre law enforcement,” while Noem claimed Pretti was “brandishing” a weapon and acted “violently” toward officers. “I don’t know of any peaceful protester that shows up with a gun and ammunition rather than a sign,” Noem stated.

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller went further on social media, labeling Pretti “an assassin.”

But bystander videos contradicted these characterizations. Footage shows Pretti holding a cellphone and assisting a woman who had been pepper-sprayed by federal officers. Within seconds, Pretti was also sprayed and forced to the ground by multiple officers. No video released so far shows him unholstering his concealed weapon, which he was legally permitted to carry in Minnesota. In fact, one video appears to show an officer removing Pretti’s gun and walking away with it just before shots were fired.

As multiple videos circulated online and on television networks, Vice President JD Vance reposted Miller’s assessment, while Trump shared what he claimed was a photo of “the gunman’s gun, loaded (with two additional full magazines!).”

On Tuesday, Trump told reporters he wanted an investigation into the death but also stated protesters “can’t have guns.” Later, speaking to diners at an Iowa restaurant, Trump called the shooting “a very unfortunate incident” while adding: “I don’t like that he had a gun. I don’t like that he had two fully loaded magazines. That’s a lot of bad stuff.”

The National Rifle Association, which has endorsed Trump in three elections, issued a statement that initially blamed Minnesota Democrats for stoking protests. However, the organization sharply criticized a federal prosecutor who claimed on social media that approaching law enforcement with a gun creates “a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you.” The NRA called this analysis “dangerous and wrong.”

FBI Director Kash Patel further inflamed the controversy during a Fox News appearance, stating no one can “bring a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want. It’s that simple.”

Gun Owners of America vice president Erich Pratt responded incredulously: “I have attended protest rallies while armed, and no one got injured.”

Conservative officials across the country drew similar connections between First and Second Amendment rights. Tennessee Republican state Rep. Jeremy Faison posted: “Showing up at a protest is very American. Showing up with a weapon is very American.” Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence, called for a “full and transparent investigation of this officer-involved shooting.”

Critics from across the political spectrum noted how the administration’s response contrasted with past conservative positions on protests and weapons. Multiple Trump supporters found with weapons during the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack received blanket pardons from the president. Republicans previously defended Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who pointed guns at protesters marching through their St. Louis neighborhood in 2020, and Kyle Rittenhouse, who was acquitted after fatally shooting two men during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

“You remember Kyle Rittenhouse and how he was made a hero on the right,” said Trey Gowdy, a Republican former congressman who once served as Trump’s attorney. “Alex Pretti’s firearm was being lawfully carried… He never brandished it.”

UCLA law professor Adam Winkler, who studies gun politics, described the situation as evidence of how “tribal we’ve become,” noting Republicans have long framed the Second Amendment as protection against government tyranny. “The moment someone who’s thought to be from the left, they abandon that principled stance,” Winkler said, while adding that Democrats who have criticized carry laws for years aren’t amplifying that position after Pretti’s death.

The political fallout comes at a sensitive time for Republicans protecting their narrow House majority while facing competitive Senate races. House Republican campaign chairman Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina is sponsoring legislation to make state concealed-carry permits valid across all states, but Speaker Mike Johnson’s office offered no update on the bill’s prospects when asked about potential impacts from the Minneapolis events.

William Sack, legal director of the Second Amendment Foundation, expressed surprise and disappointment with the administration’s initial statements following Pretti’s death. Trump’s vacillating position, he warned, is “very likely to cost them dearly with the core of a constituency they count on.”