Senior Trump administration officials who’ve recently argued that civilians mustn’t carry firearms to protests defended and, in some circumstances, celebrated the identical habits in help of armed civilians who confirmed up at racial justice demonstrations in 2020, in keeping with a overview of public statements, media appearances and previous writings.
The shift in rhetoric got here after federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse with a concealed-carry allow, on Saturday throughout an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis. Within hours of the capturing, a number of administration officials publicly blamed Pretti for his personal dying, spreading a torrent of false claims contradicted by video proof, and asserting that firearms shouldn’t be delivered to protests.
But these assertions contradict years of statements by the identical officials defending the Second Amendment rights of armed civilians at protests — together with Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot three folks, two fatally, at a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2020.
Take Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was fast to defend federal brokers’ actions as justified since Pretti was carrying a gun.
“I don’t know of any peaceful protester that shows up with a gun and ammunition, rather than a sign,” Noem said at a press convention. “This is a violent riot when you have someone showing up with weapons and are using them to assault law enforcement officers.”
No proof has emerged that Pretti ever brandished his gun earlier than being shot and killed on Saturday.
In addition, Noem’s remarks distinction together with her prior statements praising armed civilians at protests. In her 2024 e book, Noem wrote approvingly of what she described as “hundreds of Second Amendment-loving bikers” who appeared armed at a Black Lives Matter protest in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, saying they stood with law enforcement officials with guns on show.
“There also happened to be hundreds of Second Amendment–loving bikers in close proximity,” Noem wrote. “They parked along the protest route downtown and at the mall, standing with police with their Second Amendment rights on full display. They didn’t have to say anything; the message was clear: no riots or looting tonight.”
As governor of South Dakota, Noem additionally signed laws increasing concealed-carry rights and wrote in a 2021 op-ed that “It’s often been said that the Second Amendment exists to defend all the rest, including the first. I couldn’t agree more.” It was the primary invoice she signed into regulation as governor.
A DHS spokesperson in a remark to NCS accused Pretti of “obstructing law enforcement,” throughout an operation to arrest a person they mentioned had a legal historical past.
“Of course, Secretary Noem supports every American’s Second Amendment right. Americans have the right to show up to a protest with a gun, but you must follow the law,” the spokesperson mentioned.
Other senior Trump administration officials made related statements in the times following Pretti’s killing, together with President Donald Trump himself.
Trump mentioned on Tuesday that demonstrators mustn’t carry firearms to protests.
“You can’t walk in with guns,” Trump said on Tuesday. “You just can’t. You can’t walk in with guns, you can’t do that.”
In response to questions from NCS, a spokesperson for the White House pointed to a remark from press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying, “POTUS supports the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding American citizens—absolutely… while Americans have a constitutional right to bear Arms, Americans do not have a constitutional right to impede lawful immigration enforcement operations.”
FBI Director Kash Patel echoed Trump’s place in a January 25 interview on Fox News.
“You cannot bring a firearm loaded with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want. It’s that simple.”
Those remarks distinction with earlier statements by Trump and Patel defending armed civilians at protests throughout racial justice demonstrations in 2020.
After Rittenhouse shot three folks throughout protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Trump as president declined to sentence him, saying he seemed to be appearing in self-defense.
“They very violently attacked him.” Trump said in August 2020. “He probably would have been killed.”
Rittenhouse has mentioned that he introduced a rifle to the protest as a precaution and that he acted in self-defense that evening.
The week after Rittenhouse was acquitted in November 2021, Trump met with him at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
“He came over with his mother. Really a nice young man. … That was prosecutorial misconduct. He should have not have had to suffer through a trial for that. He was going to be dead,” Trump mentioned.
“He called. He wanted to know if he could come over, say hello, because he was a fan,” Trump added throughout an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity in 2021.
A White House official additionally advised NCS of the Pretti capturing in Minneapolis, “This is an entirely different situation. Rittenhouse had no interaction with federal law enforcement or ongoing law enforcement operations.”
On the day Rittenhouse was acquitted in November 2021, present White House senior adviser Stephen Miller wrote on X that the decision confirmed “law-abiding citizens” had been upholding “the sacred principles of American justice,” whereas accusing Democrats of siding “with criminals over cops” and calling them “the party of mobs.”
Patel publicly provided to assist finance defamation lawsuits on Rittenhouse’s behalf.
“We will help Kyle Rittenhouse’s defamation cases,” Patel said in a 2021 look on a far-right podcast. “We will pay for them by raising money so he can clear his name.”
Patel additionally argued that authorities and political leaders improperly focused Rittenhouse. Patel mentioned the response to the Kenosha shootings amounted to an effort to “bury people’s constitutional rights if you were named Kyle Rittenhouse.”
Patel went on to accuse prosecutors of “prosecutorial misconduct and prosecutorial overreach,” and mentioned Rittenhouse’s authorized workforce might problem the case in federal court docket.
Minnesota and Wisconsin each permit people to hold firearms in public beneath their respective gun legal guidelines. In Minnesota, a permit holder could legally carry a handgun in public. In Wisconsin, adults can overtly carry with out a permit.
And whereas each states permit public carry beneath sure circumstances, prime administration officials have provided sharply completely different assessments of armed civilians at protests in the 2 circumstances — Rittenhouse, who was strolling via protest areas in Kenosha in 2020 carrying a rifle, and Pretti, who was recording federal brokers along with his cellphone and had a hid handgun throughout an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis earlier than he was shot and killed.
Rittenhouse testified at his trial, “I brought the gun for my protection, but I didn’t think I would have to use the gun and end up defending myself.” He additionally mentioned he didn’t suppose carrying a rifle would “cause a negative reaction” among the many crowd.
In the aftermath of Pretti’s dying, numerous gun-rights’ teams decried the administration’s rhetoric together with the National Rifle Association.
Pretti’s dying has additionally spurred criticism from Mark McCloskey, who rose to prominence in the course of the George Floyd protests of 2020 when he and his spouse Patricia pointed guns at racial justice protestors exterior their house in St. Louis.
The couple had been featured audio system at the Republican National Convention in August 2020. But in a post on X Monday morning, McCloskey criticized Patel’s feedback about carrying guns to protests.
“So now Kash Patel, who is supposed to uphold the Constitution, says it is a Capital Offense (meaning it’s OK to kill you) if you lawfully carry your weapon and ammo to a protest. Say goodbye to the Second Amendment. Once again, the government using crisis to take away your rights,” McCloskey wrote.
The earlier day, McCloskey wrote, “I carry every day, and very often in situations where there is law enforcement present. What any sane person does not do is resist arrest while armed. It is not going to end well regardless.”