The shooting of fellow gun owner Alex Jeffrey Pretti in Minneapolis by a federal law enforcement officer is tragic and deeply troubling. The San Diego County Gun Owners send our sympathies to everyone involved and all those affected. We are truly sorry for your loss and all that you will have to go through in the future because of this incident.
Like other Second Amendment organizations, we call for transparency, due process and accountability through an unbiased investigation. Too many critical details remain unknown, and too many people are filtering this incident through partisan politics.
Due to personal politics, some will focus only on law enforcement’s actions; others will focus only on Pretti’s actions. Both Pretti and the law enforcement officer deserve the unvarnished, unbiased truth.
This tragedy is being used to score political points and demand reactions from gun owners. That framing is dishonest, and it ignores decades of warnings we have made about government overreach.
Much of the rhetoric in the press and social media is telling Second Amendment advocates what they should be thinking or doing right now, and asking why we aren’t saying more. The reality is many gun owners are frustrated. For decades we have warned about federal law enforcement overreach, particularly by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The laws ATF have been enforcing and abusing were likely supported by the very same people questioning the reaction of gun owners to the Pretti’s death. The same immigration advocates screaming about enforcement now, never cared about the same type of overreach gun owners have been warning about for years and were happy to tell us that if we aren’t doing anything illegal, we should simply comply. Their blind spot on this issue is a problem.
Immigration advocates scream they don’t live in a country where the government asks, “let me see your papers,” while gun owners have been living under those conditions for decades. The papers we must show to exercise our natural rights are concealed-carry permits and firearms licenses — documents that, if missing or mishandled, can turn otherwise law-abiding citizens into lifelong felons. But immigration advocates don’t care about that.
These advocates complain that it is un-American for law enforcement to go door-to-door, and ask us, “Is this what you voted for?” But they don’t care when California legislators created California Penal Code Section 30000 and related statues, which established a firearms ownership database that law enforcement can use to conduct compliance checks at gun owners’ homes.
Licensed firearms dealers are subject to warrantless administrative inspections as a condition of licensure — an extraordinary intrusion into privacy and Fourth Amendment protections. But immigration advocates don’t care about that, and worse, it is what many of them voted for.
Immigration advocates are aghast that the government takes into custody non-citizens without enough due process, but those same advocates are either silent on the violation of rights that Gun Violence Restraining Orders cause or, worse, supportive of their widespread use. GVROs are ex-parte orders with limited due process which means a simple accusation against a gun owner can result in jail and firearms confiscation.
In California, victims of GVROs are then prohibited from carrying for self-defense for five years, even if the accusation was false. Still, none of the immigration advocates took to the streets or stood in the way of law enforcement over that.
Gun owners and immigration activists are not on the same page. Gun owners do not send volunteers to physically confront law enforcement, nor do we excuse violence under the banner of protest. Instead, we empower gun owners with education and mentorship while we work within the political system. Gun owners work to get people elected, advocate for public policy improvements, and interact with media to inform people rather than tear them down.
It is reported that Pretti was a concealed-carry permit holder, but that does not absolve him of personal responsibility, nor does it make him immune to following the law. The Second Amendment community cannot be leveraged a political weapon against ICE and the Border Patrol.
Harassment, obstruction and physical interference with law enforcement are not protected by the First Amendment, and dangerous escalation by pro-immigration protesters must stop. The videos clearly show immigration advocates blocking streets so federal law enforcement cannot pass, as well as physical and verbal confrontation.
Assemble peacefully, speak freely, use the press to tell your story, and redress your grievances against the government without committing aggressive and illegal acts against a federal government that is enforcing the same immigration laws hated under President Trump, but ignored under Biden and Obama.
Videos released of the shooting from different angles show some details, but much is missing, which prevents accurate conclusions on the legality of what happened. Only the tragic results are painfully obvious right now. Current video and reporting suggest Pretti may have been shot from behind and after being disarmed. If confirmed, those facts would raise serious questions under any use-of-force standard. If accurate, those facts would make justification under established use-of-force law extremely difficult.
The same way our organization’s members would face prosecution if we were in this situation, the officer who shot Pretti should not be immune to the legal system. Those same videos also show what appears to be obstruction of justice and assault on a law enforcement agent, but those alone are not a blanket excuse for the use of lethal force.
It is hard to imagine additional information that would negate the need for a trial and we call on the Trump Administration to cooperate fully.
Gun owners are loyal to concepts and principles, not to people or parties. We are staunch and unapologetic advocates for the right to keep and bear arms. Groups like National Rifle Association, Second Amendment Foundation, and Gun Owners of America have already made non-partisan, principled statements calling for an investigation. We agree and join them in that request.
We also appreciate those Second Amendment groups’ clear opposition to statements by members of the Trump Administration. We completely disagree with the way gun owners are being portrayed in statements by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, FBI Director Kash Patel, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Federal Prosecutor Bill Essayli. Owning and carrying a gun does not make you a criminal, and concealed-carry permit holders have proven to commit fewer crimes than the general population or law enforcement officers as a group.
In its first year, on Second Amendment issues, the Trump Administration has been inconsistent and often disappointing. The administration’s statements in reaction to the Pretti’s shooting villainize gun owners are wrong.
Gun owners are not the problem. We are part of the solution.
Michael A. Schwartz is executive director of San Diego County Gun Owners, a Second Amendment advocacy organization founded in 2015. A version of this column originally appeared in San Diego Rostra.
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