Trump: Pretti ‘shouldn’t have been carrying a gun’
President Donald Trump on Tuesday again insisted Alex Pretti shouldn’t have been armed with a handgun when he was killed by federal immigration agents in Minnesota, remarks that could further inflame tensions with gun rights advocates.
The president said he hadn’t heard the assessment from some of his top officials, including deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, that Pretti was a domestic terrorist or an assassin, but said, “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. And despite that, I’d say it’s very unfortunate,” Trump said while visiting a restaurant in Iowa.
Pretti had a permit to carry, yet administration officials have criticized him for being armed, drawing a sharp rebuke from Second Amendment advocates.
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump said, “you can’t have guns, you can’t walk in with guns.” When prompted by a reporter about the Second Amendment, he repeated, “you can’t walk in with guns.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that “any gun owner knows” that carrying a gun raises “the assumption of risk and the risk of force being used against you,” during interactions with law enforcement.
On Sunday, FBI Director Kash Patel said “you cannot bring a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want,” and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said Saturday that she didn’t “know of any peaceful protester that shows up with a gun and ammunition rather than a sign.”
Trump has enjoyed longtime support from the National Rifle Association, but the group has called for a full investigation into Pretti’s death and condemned “making generalizations and demonizing law-abiding citizens.”
“The FBI director needs to brush off that thing called the Constitution, because he clearly hasn’t read it,” National Association for Gun Rights President Dudley Brown told POLITICO. “I know of no more crucial place to carry a firearm for self defense than a protest.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/27/trump-pretti-shouldnt-have-been-carrying-a-gun-00750241
The president said he hadn’t heard the assessment from some of his top officials, including deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, that Pretti was a domestic terrorist or an assassin, but said, “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. And despite that, I’d say it’s very unfortunate,” Trump said while visiting a restaurant in Iowa.
Pretti had a permit to carry, yet administration officials have criticized him for being armed, drawing a sharp rebuke from Second Amendment advocates.
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump said, “you can’t have guns, you can’t walk in with guns.” When prompted by a reporter about the Second Amendment, he repeated, “you can’t walk in with guns.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that “any gun owner knows” that carrying a gun raises “the assumption of risk and the risk of force being used against you,” during interactions with law enforcement.
On Sunday, FBI Director Kash Patel said “you cannot bring a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want,” and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said Saturday that she didn’t “know of any peaceful protester that shows up with a gun and ammunition rather than a sign.”
Trump has enjoyed longtime support from the National Rifle Association, but the group has called for a full investigation into Pretti’s death and condemned “making generalizations and demonizing law-abiding citizens.”
“The FBI director needs to brush off that thing called the Constitution, because he clearly hasn’t read it,” National Association for Gun Rights President Dudley Brown told POLITICO. “I know of no more crucial place to carry a firearm for self defense than a protest.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/27/trump-pretti-shouldnt-have-been-carrying-a-gun-00750241
