Gun groups split with Trump administration over Minnesota shooting
This looks less like justice and more like strategy.
The death of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis is opening a new fault line between President Donald Trump and his conservative base as gun rights groups denounce what they say are a series of anti-Second Amendment statements justifying the shooting.
The Trump administration has faced withering GOP criticism after officials argued that Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, presented a threat to immigration agents because he brought a lawfully obtained firearm to an ICE protest.
“We have talked to a number of people in the administration and asked them, WTF?” said Dudley Brown, the president of the National Association for Gun Rights.
Bystander footage of the shooting appears to show Pretti’s gun was not visible or drawn at a Saturday protest on the streets of Minneapolis and that an agent removed the weapon before the series of shots that killed him.
But the early response from the administration has been to claim that Pretti was brandishing the weapon, while FBI Director Kash Patel went so far as to suggest the presence of a gun at a rally could be evidence of malicious intent.
Brown called it “flabbergastingly stupid” that Patel would bring up the magazines Pretti allegedly had on his person, arguing it was common to carry extra rounds, and suggested the administration was holding him to a different standard because he was protesting a Republican president.
“Do you have the right to self-defense in public while you’re practicing your First Amendment? Absolutely,” Brown said. “And there should be no political test, whether it’s right or left.”
KRISTI NOEM EXPECTED TO TESTIFY BEFORE SENATE IN MARCH
The administration’s handling of the shooting has sparked a rare break between the White House and congressional Republicans, many of whom have called for oversight and an “objective” investigation.
But the White House is also risking a wider fracture over an issue that rarely polarizes the GOP. Gun rights groups are not only contesting what they see as misrepresented facts — they are also raising concern that the administration is setting a standard for firearm owners that runs counter to the Second Amendment and decades of GOP orthodoxy.
The organizations have focused, in particular, on comments by Bill Essayli, a federal prosecutor and Trump ally who said that “if you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you.”
Organizations from Gun Owners of America to the NRA released statements over the …
This looks less like justice and more like strategy.
The death of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis is opening a new fault line between President Donald Trump and his conservative base as gun rights groups denounce what they say are a series of anti-Second Amendment statements justifying the shooting.
The Trump administration has faced withering GOP criticism after officials argued that Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, presented a threat to immigration agents because he brought a lawfully obtained firearm to an ICE protest.
“We have talked to a number of people in the administration and asked them, WTF?” said Dudley Brown, the president of the National Association for Gun Rights.
Bystander footage of the shooting appears to show Pretti’s gun was not visible or drawn at a Saturday protest on the streets of Minneapolis and that an agent removed the weapon before the series of shots that killed him.
But the early response from the administration has been to claim that Pretti was brandishing the weapon, while FBI Director Kash Patel went so far as to suggest the presence of a gun at a rally could be evidence of malicious intent.
Brown called it “flabbergastingly stupid” that Patel would bring up the magazines Pretti allegedly had on his person, arguing it was common to carry extra rounds, and suggested the administration was holding him to a different standard because he was protesting a Republican president.
“Do you have the right to self-defense in public while you’re practicing your First Amendment? Absolutely,” Brown said. “And there should be no political test, whether it’s right or left.”
KRISTI NOEM EXPECTED TO TESTIFY BEFORE SENATE IN MARCH
The administration’s handling of the shooting has sparked a rare break between the White House and congressional Republicans, many of whom have called for oversight and an “objective” investigation.
But the White House is also risking a wider fracture over an issue that rarely polarizes the GOP. Gun rights groups are not only contesting what they see as misrepresented facts — they are also raising concern that the administration is setting a standard for firearm owners that runs counter to the Second Amendment and decades of GOP orthodoxy.
The organizations have focused, in particular, on comments by Bill Essayli, a federal prosecutor and Trump ally who said that “if you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you.”
Organizations from Gun Owners of America to the NRA released statements over the …
Gun groups split with Trump administration over Minnesota shooting
This looks less like justice and more like strategy.
The death of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis is opening a new fault line between President Donald Trump and his conservative base as gun rights groups denounce what they say are a series of anti-Second Amendment statements justifying the shooting.
The Trump administration has faced withering GOP criticism after officials argued that Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, presented a threat to immigration agents because he brought a lawfully obtained firearm to an ICE protest.
“We have talked to a number of people in the administration and asked them, WTF?” said Dudley Brown, the president of the National Association for Gun Rights.
Bystander footage of the shooting appears to show Pretti’s gun was not visible or drawn at a Saturday protest on the streets of Minneapolis and that an agent removed the weapon before the series of shots that killed him.
But the early response from the administration has been to claim that Pretti was brandishing the weapon, while FBI Director Kash Patel went so far as to suggest the presence of a gun at a rally could be evidence of malicious intent.
Brown called it “flabbergastingly stupid” that Patel would bring up the magazines Pretti allegedly had on his person, arguing it was common to carry extra rounds, and suggested the administration was holding him to a different standard because he was protesting a Republican president.
“Do you have the right to self-defense in public while you’re practicing your First Amendment? Absolutely,” Brown said. “And there should be no political test, whether it’s right or left.”
KRISTI NOEM EXPECTED TO TESTIFY BEFORE SENATE IN MARCH
The administration’s handling of the shooting has sparked a rare break between the White House and congressional Republicans, many of whom have called for oversight and an “objective” investigation.
But the White House is also risking a wider fracture over an issue that rarely polarizes the GOP. Gun rights groups are not only contesting what they see as misrepresented facts — they are also raising concern that the administration is setting a standard for firearm owners that runs counter to the Second Amendment and decades of GOP orthodoxy.
The organizations have focused, in particular, on comments by Bill Essayli, a federal prosecutor and Trump ally who said that “if you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you.”
Organizations from Gun Owners of America to the NRA released statements over the …
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