Did Alex Pretti’s killing open a GOP rift on guns?

Alex Pretti was legally carrying a handgun when federal immigration agents shot him to death in Minneapolis. Does that make him culpable for his own death? White House officials have tried to make that case. “You can’t walk in with guns” when protesting the government, President Donald Trump told reporters on Tuesday. That has angered gun rights organizations that are usually allied with the GOP.

The Trump administration is facing a “Second Amendment backlash” after Trump and other officials suggested Pretti should not have possessed a gun while monitoring ICE activity, said ABC News. No peaceful protester “shows up with a gun and ammunition rather than a sign,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. That produced pushback from Republican allies. The Constitution “protects Americans’ right to bear arms while protesting,” said Gun Owners of America. Republicans now find themselves in a “tough spot” on gun rights as a result, said Axios, and some GOP officials are pushing back against the president. “Carrying a firearm is not a death sentence,” said Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.).

Having it both ways?

The administration “wants to have it both ways,” said Stephen Gutowski at MS NOW. The White House evidently believes highlighting Pretti’s gun possession gives officials the “best chance of justifying his killing to the public,” even though Trump previously called himself the “best friend gun owners have ever had in the White House.” Gun owners have hesitated to call out Trump because he has “delivered on several of their policy preferences.” They will not vote Democrat in this year’s midterms, but Trump’s comments “may be sapping their motivation” to show up for Republicans in November.

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“Legally, Alex Pretti was within his rights to have his gun on his person,” said the National Review editorial board. But he broke the “primary rule” of prudence, choosing to arm himself “before knowingly entering a highly charged political situation” in which he expected to “interact antagonistically” with law enforcement. That is “foolish, even if it is permissible” legally. Every concealed carry class teaches gun owners to “stay away from danger, avoid arguments, and route around crowds and mobs.”

A prove-it moment

The Trump administration’s rhetoric in the Pretti case is “wholly at odds” with a Republican Party that has “routinely argued that all law-abiding Americans should be able to arm themselves, including in public spaces,” said Dan Merica and Matthew Choi at The Washington Post. This is a “watershed moment” for gun rights activists and the politicians who have “benefitted from their support,” and a “prove-it moment” for a movement to decide whether its ideals or allies are more important.

Guns are not the only issue raising intra-conservative tensions. The mass deployment of ICE and Border Patrol agents to Minneapolis “would seem like the definition of big-government action” that GOP officials have traditionally opposed, Richard Fausset said at The New York Times. Alex Pretti’s killing thus poses a still-unresolved question for the right: “Who’s a conservative, really?”