Trump breaks with NRA as he faults Alex Pretti for carrying a gun

WASHINGTON − For years, Republicans including President Donald Trump have advocated for broad Second Amendment rights, arguing the right to bear arms means Americans are allowed to bring guns to virtually all public places.

They've often said more good guys with guns are needed to stop people with bad intentions. Trump hailed Kyle Rittenhouse as the "poster boy" for self-defense after the then-17-year-old shot three men, two fatally, during protests in 2020 Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Yet after the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal authorities in Minneapolis, Trump has dramatically changed his tune, saying the 37-year-old nurse should not have been carrying a loaded firearm to a protest.

“You can't have guns. You can't walk in with guns. You can’t do that," Trump said on Jan. 27, even as he claimed he wants to reserve judgment on the Pretti case until federal investigations are concluded. "It's just a very unfortunate thing."

The comments have put Trump in an unlikely clash with gun rights activists who have raised alarm over the president's position. Even the nation's most powerful gun lobby, the National Rifle Association, has pushed back ‒ though with muted criticism, declining to call Trump out by name for the type of rhetoric the NRA often blasts when it comes from Democrats.

"The NRA unequivocally believes that all law-abiding citizens have a right to keep and bear arms anywhere they have a legal right to be," the NRA, a strong Trump ally, said in a statement after the president's remarks.

Gun Owners of America, another Second Amendment advocacy group, was more direct. "Peaceful protests while armed isn’t radical—it’s American," the group said in a post on X that included a clip of Trump's remarks. "The First and Second Amendments protect those rights, and they always have. GOA will hold any administration accountable."

'I don't like that he had a gun,' Trump says

Trump has faulted Pretti for possessing a gun even though he was carrying it legally and never brandished the weapon when Border Patrol agents confronted him on Jan. 24.

Video suggests Pretti was taken to the ground before federal authorities realized he had a gun on his waist. He was disarmed before two federal agents opened fire. One of the agents yelled "he’s got a gun" multiple times before the shots rang out.

Trump declined to characterize Pretti as an "assassin" or a "domestic terrorist" ‒ labels used by his Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ‒ when pressed by reporters during a Jan. 27 trip to Iowa. But Trump added that "certainly he shouldn't have been carrying a gun.” 

"I don't like that he had a gun. I don't like that he had two fully loaded magazines. That's a lot of bad stuff," the president said.

Before Trump weighed in publicly, administration officials enraged gun rights advocates in the immediate aftermath of the shooting by seizing on Pretti's possession of a gun.

Hours after the shooting, Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli in Southern California wrote on X, "If you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you. Don’t do it!"

Other top Trump administration officials said guns don't belong at protests. "No one who wants to be peaceful shows up at a protest with a firearm that is loaded with two full magazines," FBI Director Kash Patel said Jan. 25 on FOX News’ "Sunday Morning Futures." "You cannot bring a firearm loaded with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want. It's that simple. You don't have that right to break the law."

Noem said, "I don’t know of any peaceful protester that shows up with a gun and ammunition rather than a sign.”

Rittenhouse was among the gun rights advocates who doubled down on the right to carry in the wake of Pretti's death. "Carry everywhere. It is your right. #ShallNotBeInfringed," Rittenhouse wrote on X.

The NRA called the post from Essayli "dangerous and wrong."

Gun rights group: 'The President is simply wrong'

Yet Trump's latest comments are the most pointed yet from the administration ‒ and they come directly from the president.

"The President is simply wrong," Dudley Brown, president of the National Association for Gun Rights, said in a statement. "While we agree you can’t interfere with law enforcement, you absolutely have the right to carry the tools for self-defense while lawfully protesting. In fact, that’s precisely the kind of place where exercising that right matters most."

Brown added: "Unfortunately, this isn’t just a misstatement by the President; it reflects a broader problem with the messaging of other highly ranked Administration officials."

Republicans across the country have pushed state laws that allow the open carry of firearms in public places without permits. There are no signs that Trump plans to push any changes to gun rights at the federal level. And Republicans in Congress aren't expected to start endorsing Democratic measures to overhaul gun laws.

Still, gun rights groups are now watching Trump's actions and words perhaps more closely than ever before.

"Recent events in Minnesota underscore a recurring and deeply troubling theme: Government officials and commentators treating natural rights as privileges," the Firearms Policy Coalition said in a statement.

"President Trump and his Administration—much like the anti-carry states we fight every day—must remember that government exists only by the consent of the governed, and that our rights are not subordinate to their policy preference," the group said.

Contributing: Christopher Cann of USA TODAY

Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.