Statements by Trump Administration officials after the killing of Alex Pretti by ICE agents in Minneapolis have driven wedges into the Trump/GOP/Gun Lobby lovefest that once seemed so cozy, and laid bare the fact that Trump has not always been the gung-ho gun advocate that he would like his most fervent supporters to believe.
ICE appeared to confiscate a handgun from Alex Pretti before killing him, despite Pretti having both an open and concealed carry permit. Trump used Pretti’s carrying of a gun as a justification for the shooting, telling reporters “You can’t have guns. You can’t walk in with guns. You just can’t.” FBI Director Kash Patel and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also cited Pretti’s carrying of a firearm as leading to his death.
Then, just two days ago, Trump-appointed D.C. US Attorney Jeanine Pirro threatened to arrest anyone who brings a gun to Washington. “I don’t care if you have a license in another district, and I don’t care if you’re a law-abiding gun owner somewhere else—you bring a gun into this district, count on going to jail, and hope you get the gun back,” Pirro told Fox News. One day later, she appeared to walk back the comment, posting online that she is a “proud supporter of the Second Amendment.”
Gun-rights groups are in a lather over the recent comments, but the inconvenient fact is that Trump has not always been an unequivocal 2A supporter. In 2000, he was on record in support of an assault weapons ban, and after the 2018 Parkland shooting, Trump told lawmakers “Take the guns first, go through due process second,” as he suggested stronger laws for background checks andraising the minimum age to purchase certain firearms. He backed down after criticism from the National Rifle Association and other groups.
It was also widely reported last fall that Trump Administration officials were considering whether they could restrict the ability of transgender Americans to buy guns.
The situation has left gun-rights groups questioning Trump’s loyalties, and experts marveling at the strange bedfellows it has created.
“It feels like we’re in a bizarro world,” said University of California, Los Angeles, law professor Adam Winkler, an expert on constitutional law and the Second Amendment. “Republicans are saying, ‘Don’t bring your guns to protests,’ after 10 years of saying, ‘Of course you can bring guns to protests.’ And many liberals are saying, ‘You have a right to bring a gun to protest,’ even though they’ve been saying for years it would be irresponsible to bring a gun to a protest.”
The controversy continues to leave people on both sides of the gun debate wondering where Trump’s priorities lie, as GVP advocates fear more attacks on common-sense gun regulation, and gun advocates question whether they can count on the unequivocal support many of them had assumed.