Kristi Noem’s Response to ICE Killings in Minnesota Exposes Conservatives’ Double Standard on Gun Rights

For my entire adult life, I’ve listened to self-described “constitutional” conservatives strut around like God’s gift to the nation’s conscience, as they lecture everyone on the importance of upholding the original intent of America’s founding document. They’ve been oddly silent as Donald Trump’s administration directly assaults the Constitution. He’s not the first one to do it, but he is doing so more brazenly than others.

Even if some “whataboutism” is appropriate, wouldn’t it be more consistent for conservatives to criticize these assaults just as they criticized previous assaults under Joe Biden and Barack Obama? Cheering—or remaining silent—as ICE agents arrest those who photograph them (First Amendment), carry out warrantless searches (Fourth Amendment), and ignore the directives of governors (10th Amendment) is the definition of hypocrisy.

As the late conservative writer and Christian apologist Malcolm Muggeridge said, “An orgy looks particularly alluring seen through the mists of righteous indignation.” Many modern American conservatives seem to enjoy this orgy of violence as it’s carried out under state sanction, but aren’t even committed enough to their “Constitution” bit to feign any righteous indignation at it. We’ve seen a few notable exceptions, but it’s the latest example of how partisanship warps people’s minds.

But I figured the modern Right would at least draw the line at the one right they seem to place above every other right: the Second Amendment right to gun ownership. Here again the Republican administration has taken a living-and-breathing approach to the Constitution. Some conservatives have complained about the administration’s recent comments on guns, but they haven’t been as apoplectic as one would expect.

“I don’t know of any peaceful protester that shows up with a gun and ammunition rather than a sign,” said Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after ICE agents shot to death Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, per ABC News. FBI Director Kash Patel echoed those sentiments: “As Kristi said, you cannot bring a firearm loaded with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want. It’s that simple.” Trump also weighed in, calling the nurse an “agitator and, perhaps, insurrectionist.” The evidence suggests no such thing, but that’s MAGA: always double down.

The hypocrisy is glaring, of course. Republicans have celebrated Kyle Rittenhouse, who killed two people and wounded another at a Black Lives Matter rally in Wisconsin. He testified that he acted in self-defense and a jury acquitted him, but he did in fact travel from Illinois to the protest with a firearm. Officers appeared to have taken Pretti’s handgun from him before the fatal encounter, whereas the internet is full of photos of Rittenhouse carrying a semi-automatic rifle.

Contrast conservatives’ harsh critique of Pretti with this description from The Guardian of Rittenhouse’s appearance at a Turning Point USA conference in Phoenix following his acquittal: “As Rittenhouse took the stage, thousands of cheering fans chanted his name, along with his own theme song, adapted from his name. Hosts asked if any women in the crowd wanted to go on a date with Rittenhouse, prompting loud cheers.”

So apparently the ban on carrying a gun “to any protest that you want” has exceptions—at least in Republican circles. The funny thing about the Constitution: It’s meant to protect everyone from government overreach. The only way that constitutional rights mean anything is if they are applied equally to friend and foe alike.

But then U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro compounded the administration’s problem when she said in a recent Fox News interview: “You bring a gun into the district, you mark my words, you’re going to jail. I don’t care if you have a license in another district, and I don’t care if you’re a law-abiding gun owner somewhere else. You bring a gun into this district, count on going to jail and hope you get the gun back.” That reinforced the idea that the Second Amendment is fine if, say, you cosplay at a pro-MAGA event or a coffee shop, but maybe not if you’re protesting current federal policies.

Politico reported that she backtracked after receiving criticism from some Republicans, but Pirro’s new statement wasn’t much better than the first one: She said she supports the Second Amendment, but “Washington, D.C. law requires handguns be licensed in the District with the Metropolitan Police Department to be carried into our community.” Does that mean Republicans are now onboard handgun licensing? It’s easy to get tangled up this way when one lacks consistent principles.

To their credit, some gun-rights supporters did get agitated over this kerfuffle. After the administration’s Pretti reaction, the pro-Trump National Rifle Association offered this mild rebuke: “The NRA unequivocally believes that all law-abiding citizens have a right to keep and bear arms anywhere they have a legal right to be.” That’s good practice. Maybe someday those who claim to champion the Constitution will do so more often, more consistently, and more vigorously.

This column was first published in The Orange County Register.