What to know about Illinois gun rights around federal immigration agents

After federal immigration agents killed Veteran Affairs intensive care nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis last month, President Donald Trump and senior administration officials blamed Pretti’s death on his possession of a firearm.

“Certainly he shouldn’t have been carrying a gun,” Trump told reporters days after Pretti was fatally shot as he filmed immigration agents with his cellphone camera. Videos showed Pretti never reached for his gun, and agents disarmed him before opening fire.

FBI Director Kash Patel said that having a gun at a protest is illegal — even though Pretti legally owned his firearm — and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she didn’t “know of any peaceful protester that shows up with a gun and ammunition rather than a sign.”

In Illinois, federal agents shot two people during last year’s Operation Midway Blitz, one fatally. Marimar Martinez, who survived after being shot five times, had a valid Illinois concealed-carry license for a gun that she had tucked into her purse in her passenger seat, and she never faced any charges related to the firearm.

That’s despite Illinois having some of the strictest gun laws in the country.

The Trump administration officials’ comments about the Pretti shooting and his possession of a gun have faced pushback from some gun rights advocates. They’ve also raised questions about whether lawful gun owners are safe carrying their weapons in or near protests — whether those are large, planned demonstrations or happenstance encounters with federal agents as they engage in enforcement.

So what do Illinois state laws say about guns at protests and in interactions with officers? Does possession of a firearm around a federal immigration agent put someone at greater risk for violence?

The Chicago Sun-Times asked experts and gun rights advocates to weigh in.

Can protesters in Illinois carry guns?

It depends, because there are certain explicit restrictions in Illinois’ concealed carry law.

If the protest is a large, planned public demonstration that was issued a permit by a local government, the answer is no. Protesters cannot bring their guns, even if they have a concealed carry license, according to state law.

The Illinois Firearm Concealed Carry Act prohibits gun possession in certain vulnerable locations, including government buildings, hospitals, courts, buses and trains, schools and child care facilities. Most relevant here is the ban on firearms at “any public gathering or special event conducted on property open to the public that requires the issuance of a permit from the unit of local government.”

But what about situations similar to Pretti’s shooting, when people are monitoring immigration enforcement in neighborhoods or are confronted by a federal agent? During Operation Midway Blitz, those were more frequent, daily occurrences compared to large protests.

Possessing a firearm is legal in those circumstances in Illinois, as long as the owner has a concealed carry license and isn’t in one of the sensitive, prohibited locations.

Do you have to tell an officer or federal agent that you have a gun?

Yes. If a law enforcement official stops someone and asks whether they have a gun, Illinois law requires concealed carry license holders to tell the officer that they are carrying.

Is protesting or interacting with federal agents more dangerous if you have a gun?

Experts don’t agree on an answer, and there isn’t conclusive research. But there are some indications that guns can increase the likelihood of violence.

Studies show that, generally, the presence of firearms can escalate violent confrontations, Loyola University Chicago criminal justice professor David Olson said. Though that’s in crimes such as robberies or assaults, not encounters between the public and police.

Other research has found that shootings by and of law enforcement officers are more prevalent in states with looser gun restrictions, where firearm possession is more common. That indicates that interactions with armed officers are more likely to end violently if a civilian is also carrying a gun.

Darrell Miller, a University of Chicago law professor and Second Amendment expert who has written extensively about guns in American society, said he thinks the answer is clear.

“Without question, the presence of firearms in these situations escalates the chance of injury or death, whether it's a protest or not, as we saw with the Pretti situation,” he said.

In part, he says that’s because the Trump administration has taken the reins off federal agents, who Miller argued should be “trained to understand that the mere possession of a firearm where it's legal to have one is not in itself cause to use deadly force against somebody.

“But apparently these agents are not being trained in that way,” he claimed.

Gun owners who are interested in protesting — or even simply monitoring — the government’s actions find themselves in a bind if carrying a weapon increases their risk of injury, Miller said.

“It doesn't seem like much of a right if it can be taken away at the arbitrary discretion of some government agent,” Miller said. “The state permits them to carry a firearm with a concealed carry license, but they know they are at risk of their life [for] just exercising that right. It definitely waters down the right.”

What are Illinois gun rights advocates saying?

Gun rights advocacy groups in Illinois, who frequently defend Second Amendment rights, didn’t comment for this story, including the Illinois State Rifle Association and Illinois Firearms Association. Neither did several state legislators who have advocated for gun rights.

Still, some gun rights advocates have shared their views. A prominent Facebook group called Illinois Gun Owners Together has seen split reactions to the recent shooting. Some members have criticized the Pretti shooting and the Trump administration’s stance that Pretti shouldn’t have been carrying a gun. Others have said he had a right to carry but shouldn’t have gone near — or, in their words, “impeded” — immigration operations.

Elsewhere, the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus said it was “deeply concerned” by Pretti’s shooting death and called for an investigation.

“Every peaceable Minnesotan has the right to keep and bear arms — including while attending protests, acting as observers, or exercising their First Amendment rights,” the group said in a statement. “These rights do not disappear when someone is lawfully armed, and they must be respected and protected at all times.”

The National Rifle Association has said the idea that officers are justified in shooting anyone who has a gun is “dangerous and wrong,” and the gun lobby called on officials to avoid “making generalizations and demonizing law-abiding citizens.”