Dear Editor:
As a gun owner most of my life and an NRA Headquarters target shooter, I am alarmed by the White House’s supposed justification for ICE agents murdering Alex Pretti in Minneapolis earlier this year.
I am trying to understand whether I have the right to bear arms per Amendment II while lawfully expressing myself per Amendment I, or be designated a criminal.
The administration claimed that killing Alex Pretti, even after he was disarmed, was justified because he was wearing a gun to a protest. (Allowed per Amendments II and I). Videos show he was lawfully protesting and never unholstered the gun or threatened authorities. Videos also show that he was bending down to help a woman who had been knocked down by ICE agents. Yet senior members of the White house, from the president down, immediately issued statements like “You can’t have guns. You can’t walk in with guns “ (Trump) he was an “assassin” (Vance and Miller), a “Domestic Terrorist” (Noem) who wanted to “massacre law enforcement.” (DHS official statement)
By their statements, I am not allowed to carry a gun and express my views or I am a criminal.
It’s doesn’t matter whether I agree with Pretti’s position while protesting. He was licensed to legally carry the gun and never unholstered it or threatened ICE. As an NRA representative said, “carrying a gun does not equate to violence. “
There is nothing in the Constitution that says I forfeit my First Amendment right to free speech and peaceful protest only if I give up my gun. However, this was clearly the message from the Administration.
Right now, we have the right to carry a gun when we go out in public and the right to peacefully protest. I believe, per the Constitution, that each of us should continue to have both those rights.
Pat Berg ~ Rilleyville, Va.
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Pat, I’ve always understood a persons right to bear arms. My Dad carried responsibly and thankfully never was provoked into a situation requiring it’s use. I don’t have the answer that will satisfy anybody/everybody. For me, it’s about weapons that get into the wrong hands.
Yes Pat Berg. We have the right to peacefully protest as you say. Video: Alex Pretti-Choir Boy. https://youtu.be/42mpmH0G0Dw?si=fO2OUOx6jRfEtXj1
Pat, I got 2 sentences in before I know you were a propagandized liberal. The man was absolutely not protesting legally. He had just finished attacking a law enforcement vehicle. He was being confrontational and violent to the law enforcement agents. Secondly, if you’re so concerned with your second amendment, you should probably be more concerned how the governor and Virginia legislature is doing everything they can to strip you of your gun rights. But as usual, orange man bad right?
Alex Pretti kicked the brake light in of a vehicle. So he gets shot.
Perhaps he should’ve attacked the US Capitol on January 6 instead. Then he would have gotten a pardon. Or his family would have received a million dollars of tax payer money if he had been shot.
Richard, did I say that. I’m arguing the fact that you libs refuse to acknowledge that he wasn’t legally or peacefully protesting. He was a violent triggered man who was obviously looking for a confrontation. To put it in plain legal terms, he committed a violent crime against federal law enforcement officers while carrying a concealed weapon. That’s a crime. You libs always want to excuse poor behavior of the part of people like him.
Richard Jones. The title of the video above, once opened, clearly explains that the events shown happened 11 days prior to him getting shot dead.
I watched the video. 3 times. I saw him kick a tail light out (OMG, the horror). I saw masked ICE agents pretending they are Storm Troopers from the beginning of the first Star Wars movie, throwing tear gas around a peaceful protest.
Again…shall we contrast this to January 6, 2021? The Capitol police exercised amazing restraint against a mob that stormed the Capitol, broke windows, destroyed furniture, stole laptops, urinated (and worse) in the corridors. And they get pardoned?????? I’ll be anxiously waiting for your response to this.
Ok so here’s a reality check for you. The overwhelming majority of those J6ers for convicted and jailed for trespassing. The overwhelming majority of them were actually peaceful. I’m not making excuses for the ones who damaged things or fought with cops. Also, one of the protesters and ONLY a protester was shot and killed and you libs refused to even acknowledge that. Furthermore, you libs have one, ONLY ONE incident that you compare every event to and that’s J6. You use that singular example when comparing any disorder the liberal dems cause. It happened. We get it. No one is proud of is. But at what point are you dems going to stop using it. It happened 5 years ago and lasted 4 hours. How many weeks were the federal cops dealing with violent things preventing them from deporting people who broke our laws and flaunt it? How many police cars were destroyed in the LA riots last year? How many small businesses were destroyed in every major city during George Floyd riots? How many federal courthouses and police stations is it ok to burn down as long as it’s the Dems doing it? And at what point are you libs going to realize that these ICE agents didn’t write the laws. They are simply there to enforce them. We all know you want illegals to be able to come in and suck off the taxpayer and get voting rights, but that’s so anti-American and frankly, you’ve been brainwashed to think it’s ok. It’s disgusting and ridiculous behavior for adults and you should be ashamed.
Pretti had a gun in his waistband on the day he was shot dead. There was a big skuffle and the two agents who fired their weapons heard, “He’s got a gun.” They didn’t see that another agant had reached in and retrieved Pretti’s gun. They shot him believing he was still armed.
The two federal agents who shot and killed Alex Pretti on January 24, 2026, were identified as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer Raymundo Gutierrez.
He wasn’t spitting or kicking out a Federal vehicle taillight like 11 days before. He had a gun. He caused a fast confusion. He became dead.
I will try and be clear about my viewpoint. When my Dad passed in 1989, his .38 shotguns and hunting rifle were turned into the local police department. My brothers, living out of state, wanted them. I said no. The gun ownership laws that need fixing are, to me, about responsibility and liability for the choice to preserve an individual’s responsibility to be armed.