US gun activists slam suggestion that carrying pistol justified killing of Minneapolis man

Some high-profile gun rights activists and groups in the US bristled on Jan 24 at government officials’ claims that federal agents may have been justified in killing a Minneapolis man during a protest because he was carrying a pistol.

The right to bear arms in public has been a mainstay of the gun rights movement.

On Jan 24, a Los Angeles federal prosecutor, Mr Bill Essayli, became a magnet for outrage when he wrote on social media: “If you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you. Don’t do it!”

Gun Owners of America, one of the country’s largest gun advocacy groups, said in its own posting that it condemned his “untoward comments”. The group said “federal agents are not ‘highly likely’ to be ‘legally justified’ in ‘shooting’ concealed carry licensees who approach while lawfully carrying a firearm. The Second Amendment protects Americans’ right to bear arms while protesting – a right the federal government must not infringe upon”.

The gun group also accused “the Left” of “antagonising” immigration agents.

The exchange could point to political fissures between the gun rights movement and President Donald Trump, who is generally seen as an ally. And it already is sparking debate within a movement that has long warned against government overreach.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) referred to federal agents as “jackbooted government thugs” in a 1995 mailer. But in a statement on the night of Jan 24, the NRA put blame for the shooting on Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota and other “radical progressive politicians”. It said their “calls to dangerously interject oneself into legitimate law-enforcement activities have ended in violence”.

“As there is with any officer-involved shooting, there will be a robust and comprehensive investigation that takes place to determine if the use of force was justified,” the group added.

In a separate post, the NRA called Mr Essayli’s comments “dangerous and wrong”.

“Responsible public voices should be awaiting a full investigation, not making generalisations and demonising law-abiding citizens,” it said.

Video footage shows that

Mr Alex Jeffrey Pretti, an intensive care nurse at a Veterans Affairs hospital

, stepped between a woman and an agent pepper spraying her, and then was sprayed himself. He appeared to hold a phone in one hand and nothing in the other.

As agents restrained him, one appeared to take his pistol, videos show, and then agents opened fire, killing him.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said Mr Pretti was a US citizen with no known criminal record and had a firearms permit allowing him to carry a gun openly.

“We, the people, have a right to bear arms in public,” prominent gun rights activist and radio host Cam Edwards said in a social media post. He added: “I’ve encountered countless police while I’ve been armed and never been shot. The presence of a firearm, by itself, is not an indicator of a criminal intent or a threat to law enforcement.”

Mr Gregory Bovino, a top Border Patrol official leading the crackdown in Minneapolis, said at a news conference on Jan 24 that Mr Pretti “had two loaded magazines” and appeared to want to do “maximum damage and massacre law enforcement”.

No evidence has been produced to back up that claim.

Ms Dana Loesch, a former NRA spokeswoman, highlighted Mr Bovino’s comments, saying in a social media post that “statements like this don’t help. What he has or didn’t have isn’t the issue. What he was doing, with or without it, is the issue. Did he draw on agents? Reach for it? Was it on him?”

Mr Christopher Fernandez, an Orlando, Florida, firearms instructor and founder of Equality In Arms Defensive Training, also took issue with Mr Bovino. He said the official had falsely characterised Mr Pretti as “a crazed assailant launching himself at US Customs and Border Protection officers, pistol drawn and firing with the intent to slaughter as many of them as possible”.

Mr Fernandez said the heavy-handed tactics of federal agents have left people on both sides of the political spectrum “living in fear”, adding: “How can they not be when this is what we are seeing?”

The Trump administration has argued strongly for the right to carry guns. A Justice Department suit filed in December against the US Virgin Islands over its gun permitting process, for example, noted that “law-abiding citizens” have “a fundamental right to carry handguns publicly for self-defence”.

Mr Jordan Levine, who runs an online gun rights advocacy company called A Better Way 2A, said “what happened in Minneapolis shows that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will treat the mere presence of a legal firearm as justification for lethal force. Carrying a gun is not a crime, yet it was readily used as proof of dangerous intent once Alex Pretti was dead and unable to contest that narrative”.

Ms Danielle L. Campbell, who helped found Protect Peace, a community outreach group for gun owners in Central and South Florida, said she was shocked after watching a video of the shooting.

“I’m willing to wait for more facts to come out,” she said. “What I will say is carrying a concealed weapon legally shouldn’t be a death sentence.” NYTIMES