White House contradicts FBI director: Law-abiding protesters ‘have right to bear arms’

In the wake of the death of Alex Pretti, the White House categorically rejected the suggestion from some Republicans – including Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel – that U.S. citizens do not have a right to carry firearms while protesting.

President Trump “absolutely” supports the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told RealClearPolitics at Monday’s press briefing.

“While Americans have a constitutional right to bear arms,” she clarified, “Americans do not have a constitutional right to impede lawful immigration enforcement operations.”

Carrying a firearm increased the “assumption of risk and the risk of force being used against you” when confronted by law enforcement, she concluded, “And again, that’s unfortunately what took place.”

Pretti, a registered nurse with a concealed carry permit, was wrestled to the ground, pepper-sprayed, and shot by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis on Saturday while he filmed ongoing deportation operations. He was reportedly carrying a Sig Sauer P320 9mm pistol. Video of the incident shows agents seizing the holstered weapon before shots were fired.

Pretti was not carrying identification, including his CCW, at the time of his death. Gun experts note, however, that failure to show a permit is punishable only by a $25 fine.

Both Homeland Security and the FBI are now investigating what the White House described as “an unfortunate tragedy.” But the leaders of those agencies, Noem and Patel, were both quick to suggest that it was illegal to bring a firearm to protest.

Noem told reporters on Sunday that Pretti should not have come armed to the protest and that “this individual who came with weapons and ammunition to stop a law enforcement operation of federal law enforcement officers committed an act of domestic terrorism. That’s the facts.”

Patel was similarly definitive when he told Fox News the same day, “You cannot bring a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want. It’s that simple.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, meanwhile, said in a Saturday social media post that approaching law enforcement while armed meant there would be “a high likelihood” of a “legally justified” shooting.

Constitutional law and gun rights advocates say otherwise, however. Before the White House weighed in, the Trump administration faced intense backlash from some of its strongest supporters for the arguments advanced by Essayli, Noem, and Patel.

The National Rifle Association slammed the comments from Essayli as “dangerous and wrong.” Gun Owners of America released a statement reiterating that “the Second Amendment protects Americans’ right to bear arms while protesting – a right the federal government must not infringe upon.”
Dana Loesch, a conservative columnist and former NRA spokeswoman, defended the rights of protestors to carry firearms and argued that “anyone who tells you otherwise is an anti-Second Amendment statist.”

Until the White House stepped in to clarify the president’s position, the Pretti shooting had confused the ideological battle lines, with many Republicans suddenly adopting the gun control talking points of Democrats. But gun owners remain some of the most loyal Trump supporters. The comments from Leavitt contradicting Noem and Patel demonstrate the influence of that lobby.

And while Noem and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller described Pretti as “a domestic terrorist,” Leavitt declined to use that term and called his death “a tragedy.” The White House maintains that the fastest way to end the chaos in Minnesota, including the bloodshed, was for Gov. Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Fey to allow local law enforcement to cooperate with ICE.

The Trump administration does not, however, believe that the solution is to curtail the gun rights of U.S. citizens.