Gun Rights Activists Briefly Pause MAGA Cheerleading To Half-Assedly Defend Rights Of Murdered Minnesotan

from the fair-weather-appears-to-be-over,-friends dept

This nation is filled with loudmouths who claim the Second Amendment ensures the rest of the amendments are protected. There are a lot of gun owners who bristle at any hint of gun control, even as they insist they might be the only thing protecting us from a hostile government.

This noise gets a lot louder any time a member of the Democratic party is in the Oval Office. You barely hear it at all when the GOP in the White House, even when the current iteration of the GOP looks a whole lot like the authoritarians these people swore they’d gun down the minute they reared their fascist heads.

Our rights are being destroyed daily but no one on the Second Amendment side has said a thing until now. Perhaps only reason they’re speaking up now is because it’s a fair-skinned gun owner who was murdered by federal officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota — the second murder of a city resident in as many weeks.

ICU nurse Alex Pretti stepped between a Border Patrol officer and the woman he was trying to douse with pepper spray simply because she was standing there recording him. Pretti stood there, holding his phone up, recording the officer as he first sprayed Pretti with pepper spray before pushing him up against a wall.

Moments after that, Pretti was wrestled to the ground, swarmed and beaten by federal agents. Mere moments after that, Pretti was executed by two of the officers, as described here in Bellingcat’s frame-by-frame breakdown of all available footage of the shooting:

After firing once, the agent in the black beanie repositions, and then quickly fires three more shots at Pretti’s back at close range while he appears to try to stand up.

[…]

Pretti collapses onto the ground after the first shots and the agents back away. A second agent (the one wearing the brown beanie hat) then draws his gun and fires at least one shot. This is the fifth shot that is heard. The agent in the black beanie can be seen and heard firing more shots. Shots five through ten all fired at Pretti’s motionless body.

That shooting was immediately followed by the self-exonerating bullshit this administration has been cranking out since day one:

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Patrol Commander at Large Greg Bovino have claimed without providing further evidence, that Pretti arrived at the scene “to inflict maximum damage on individuals” and Noem told reporters that his actions amounted to “domestic terrorism.”

“This individual who came with weapons and ammunition to stop a law enforcement operation of federal law enforcement officers committed an act of domestic terrorism, that’s the facts.”

No. He came with a phone and was legally carrying a legally-owned handgun. If this government is just going to assume anyone carrying a gun is a criminal who can be summarily executed merely for being near federal officers, we’re well past the point any “liberal” administration has dared to go.

And after years of ignoring cops shooting people who happened to be carrying guns (mainly because many of those people were minorities), two heavy-hitters in the gun rights arena have stepped up to criticize one of Trump’s many ineffective prosecutors, Bill Essayli, who has decided there’s no better way to cap off a long string of rejected indictments by claiming officers are fully justified if they decide to shoot people just because they have guns.

Here’s what Essayli added to his repost of the DHS’s claim that Alex Pretti signed his own death warrant by legally carrying a gun:

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!

Whoops. Gun Owners of America jumped on this first, adding this to its repost of Essayli shoving a loaded foot into his mouth:

[W]e condemn the untoward comments of @USAttyEssayli. 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.

Of course, even though this entity got all hot and bothered by the suggestion that law enforcement officers are welcome to kill gun owners, it had to first give credit where it isn’t due (suggesting the DOJ has any interest in engaging in a full investigation) and dipping out of the tweet by sending some strays in the direction of the people who are currently getting murdered by federal officers:

Finally, the Left must stop antagonizing [ICE] and [CBP] agents who are taking criminals off the street and play a crucial role in protecting communities and upholding the rule of law.

Sooooo close. If the organization had stuck to the condemnation of Bill Essayli’s assault on the only right they care about, it might have meant something. But it means so much less when this (justified) criticism of federal officials is sandwiched between bending the knee to the DOJ and mindlessly insulting people just like the person they (sort of, from an oblique angle) defended in retrospect.

The NRA followed that up with its own bit of Essayli ass-kicking.

This sentiment from the First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California is dangerous and wrong.

Responsible public voices should be awaiting a full investigation, not making generalizations and demonizing law-abiding citizens.

This one is much more straightforward, but still walks back the criticism of the federal prosecutor by telling everyone to “await” a “full investigation” which almost certainly isn’t going to be happening.

Only 14 minutes earlier, the NRA account was actually running interference for the administration with a statement it released before Essayli angered the association.

“For months, radical progressive politicians like Tim Walz have incited violence against law enforcement officers who are simply trying to do their jobs. Unsurprisingly, these calls to dangerously interject oneself into legitimate law-enforcement activities have ended in violence, tragically resulting in injuries and fatalities.

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. As we await these facts and gain a clearer understanding, we urge the political voices to lower the temperature to ensure their constituents and law enforcement officers stay safe.”

This has led to Essayli trying to walk back his statement by claiming he didn’t say the thing he said and that these two prominent critics are “putting words in his mouth.” He “substantiated” his counter-claim by putting a whole lot of new words in his own mouth — words that very definitely weren’t in the shorter post he put out in support of the DHS’s smearing of the person its employees had just executed in broad daylight on a public street.

In the end, it means almost nothing. Two Second Amendment-focused organization raised their voices briefly — breaking with the administration they absolutely adore — to condemn a perceived attack on their rights. But they’re utterly silent when it comes to condemning the act that prompted their belated reaction. They don’t honestly care how many people are killed by law enforcement officers. The only thing they care about is being able to open carry while shopping at Walmart or invading federal buildings to overturn elections. Everyone to the perceived left of their core membership can continue to get fucked.

Filed Under: 2nd amendment, alex pretti, bill essayli, cbp, dhs, ice, kash patel, mass deportation, minneapolis, minnesota, murder, trump administration

Companies: gun owners of america, nra