After the Alex Pretti Killing, Are Conservatives
Back-Pedaling on Gun Rights?
February, 2026 - For years, many of us in the gun rights community have argued (among other things) that 1) Citizens are allowed to be armed in order to protect themselves from an overreaching government and 2) Citizens are allowed to conceal carry anywhere, anytime. After all, as the argument goes, limiting these rights would mean being in favor of some kind of gun control laws, which at best don't work and at worst would open the door to even more questionable restrictions.
Following the Alex Pretti murder by federal agents in Minnesota, though, we have found it interesting to hear some of the gun-related statements being made by so many conservatives.
A number of these commentators start by saying that, well, you can't/shouldn't carry a concealed weapon to a protest.
Are they arguing that the 1st Amendment's Freedom of Assembly can supersede the 2nd Amendment and allow limitations on your right to carry? Sounds like it.
Did they make the same argument when the Rittenhouse kid took his rifle to that Wisconsin protest and killed two people? Not that we remember.
Are they saying that protests should be peaceful and guns can cause violence? How woke of them!
 (Image of Alex Pretti from wpr.org)
Other commentators argued that Alex Pretti was dangerous for some unspecified or made up reason and, consequently, he shouldn't have been allowed to have a gun at the protest, or maybe he shouldn't have been allowed to even possess a gun at all. Our thoughts on those statements? Sounds like those folks are supporting red-flag laws all of a sudden.
And did any of these commentators question why federal agents were allowed to take Mr. Pretti's legal weapon from him when all he seemed to be doing was trying to assist a woman who the government agents had knocked to the ground? Reports/video indicated that Mr. Pretti never brandished, or drew, or threatened to use his gun.
Of course, the biggest question in the Pretti incident was why the government was allowed to kill a Citizen with, apparently, no consequences. As we stated earlier, isn't such behavior by the government a key reason why Citizens support the 2nd Amendment?
Maybe it's time the GOP's 2A crowd consider joining us as Pro-Gun Democrats. Not only do you get your gun rights protected, you also get your healthcare rights protected, and you get the billionaires and Wall Streeters and A.I. techies to pay their fair share in taxes. (And thereby start reducing our federal debt like Bill Clinton did back in the '90's, rather than being kings of debt like George Bush Jr., and Donald Trump.)
Think about it and let us know your thoughts. We'd love to hear from you.
P.S. Former Congressman and longtime conservative and gun rights advocate (and a regular concealed carrier himself), Adam Kinzinger, probably puts it more succinctly than we did: It doesn't matter the who or the why. The government had no right to disarm and murder Alex Pretti, and they have no right to do the same to you unless and until you start threatening use of your gun. We'll post a link to Mr. Kinzinger's video shortly.
 (Adam Kinzinger image from Newsweek)
| 
