In the wake of the fatal shooting of Alex Jeffrey Pretti by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis on January 24, officials in the Trump administration rushed to paint the 37-year-old ICU nurse as a “domestic terrorist” who intended to inflict “maximum damage” on law enforcement. 

The reason: He had a gun holstered in his waistband.

Pretti had a state-issued permit for the handgun. Still, that didn’t stop FBI Director Kash Patel from declaring on Fox News, “You cannot bring a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want.” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, a longtime Second Amendment advocate, said, “I don’t know of any peaceful protester with a gun and ammunition rather than a sign.” 

“You can’t have guns. You can’t walk in with guns,” President Trump said three days after the shooting when asked about Pretti’s Second Amendment right to carry a concealed gun while observing federal immigration agents.  

The stance generated immediate backlash, including from gun rights advocates and members of the National Rifle Association, who pointed out that there is no law against bringing a gun to a protest in Minnesota. Some recalled how Republicans — including Patel — championed Kyle Rittenhouse after he shot three protesters, two of them fatally, at a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Wisconsin in 2020.

Many expected the gun lobby, which has spent decades building a guns-everywhere society, to defend a U.S. citizen enjoying the same right to carry as his right-wing counterparts. The NRA and others suddenly found themselves in the unfamiliar position of having to choose between MAGA and the Second Amendment. Here’s how their rhetoric played out across social media.

The National Rifle Association

Ten hours after the shooting, the NRA issued a statement blaming Minnesota Governor Tim Walz for inciting violence against federal officers and calling for a “comprehensive investigation.” 

“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…

— NRA (@NRA) January 25, 2026

The post generated outrage on social media. “Pathetic statement from a pathetic organization,” OSINTdefender, a popular open source intelligence account, replied. Another user said, “Cancelling my benefactor membership because you have 1 and only 1 job to do, and you’re too busy being partisan.”

Shortly after its initial statement, the NRA criticized a post from Bill Essayli, the First Assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, who wrote, “If you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you.” The NRA called Essayli’s words “dangerous and wrong” and accused him of demonizing law-abiding citizens.

Two days after the shooting, the NRA tweeted a clip from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s news conference in which she said the president “supports the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding American citizens — absolutely.” It was still not a full-throated defense of gun carriers, and some NRA followers noticed. “As a multiple 5 digit donator to the @NRA I’m pulling all donations until further notice,” one X user replied. “It feels like this administration is soon to be trampling on my 2nd amendment right.”

As a multiple 5 digit donator to the @NRA I’m pulling all donations until further notice. It feels like this administration is soon to be trampling on my 2nd amendment right.

While I didn’t agree with what that guy was doing, he still wasn’t doing anything wrong

— CraigsFist (@JuiceWane) January 27, 2026

This isn’t the first time the NRA has failed to come to the defense of a lawful concealed carrier killed by police. In 2016, Philando Castile was fatally shot by a Minnesota police officer after he declared during a traffic stop that he had a gun and a concealed carry permit in the car. Castile’s fiancée filmed the harrowing aftermath, which went viral. The NRA waited two days to issue a statement, calling for a “thorough” investigation but not mentioning Castile at all — or even that there had been a shooting. The next day, when six police officers were gunned down in Dallas, the group issued a statement within hours, a contrast that got blowback from its own members. Back then, experts told The Trace that the NRA would stand up for gun owners only when it doesn’t entail siding against police.

A gun owner who asked to be identified as “IndependentBuffalo” for fear of being doxxed told The Trace on January 26 that he’d canceled his NRA membership after more than a decade because of the group’s tepid response to Pretti’s shooting. “They failed to assert that our federal government preemptively labeled Alex Pretti as an assassin and downplayed the harm that ICE caused,” the combat veteran and three-time Trump voter said. “Whether you are on the left or right, our Bill of Rights stands as a buffer of protection between we the people and the government.”

Just cancelled my membership. I’ll never wait for an “investigation” by a party that perpetrates tyrannical violence on our law abiding citizens. Objectively, this was murder.

— Independent Buffalo (@IraqVetAustin) January 25, 2026

Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus

This state-based group was among the first to issue a statement about Pretti’s shooting. “Every peaceable Minnesotan has the right to keep and bear arms — including while attending protests, acting as observers, or exercising their First Amendment rights,” the group posted on X. “These rights do not disappear when someone is lawfully armed, and they must be respected and protected at all times.” 

The group’s president, firearms instructor Rob Doar, has been making the media rounds analyzing videos of Pretti’s shooting and pushing back against Patel’s statements. 

Gun Owners of America

The 50-year-old lobbying group, which styles itself as a more radical, no-compromise alternative to the NRA, posted a critical reply to Essayli: “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.” 

National Association for Gun Rights

NAGR, which touts its total opposition to firearms regulation, published several posts on X reiterating its support for gun rights. “The mere presence of a firearm is not evidence of criminal intent,” the group posted a day after the shooting. “Anyone who claims to be pro-gun should never suggest otherwise.” NAGR pushed back against Patel’s assertion that carrying an extra magazine meant Pretti was up to no good, saying the claim “creates an easy backdoor argument for magazine bans and similar legislation.”

“Administration officials would be wise to avoid damaging the Second Amendment or blaming millions of lawful gun owners,” the group said, warning of a future Democratic administration that might use Trump’s stance as a pretext to pass stronger gun laws. NAGR’s communications director, Taylor Rhodes, was particularly incensed by the administration’s stance that guns make someone inherently dangerous. He directed several retorts to Noem as well as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who told ABC This Week that he’s never brought a gun to a protest. Rhodes wrote: “I’ve carried to nearly every protest I’ve attended as an adult. That doesn’t make me a threat.”

NAGR also pushed back against gun control groups who called out the Trump administration’s inconsistent stance on the Second Amendment.

Carrying an extra magazine implies nothing.

Holsters designed to carry spare magazines are common and widely sold. Training resources and guides across the internet actively recommend it. Thousands of law-abiding Americans do this every day. This is standard, not overkill.… https://t.co/XkhTf6feWd

— National Association for Gun Rights (@gunrights) January 25, 2026

Second Amendment Foundation

This group, which aggressively challenges gun laws nationwide, didn’t post a statement about the shooting on X or its main site. 

But SAF’s director of legal research and education, Kostas Moros, pushed back against the administration, telling the firearms news site The Reload:“The claim that some are now making — that the peaceable carry of a firearm near officers is enough to justify them using lethal force — is an affront to the Second Amendment rights of all Americans. People should not fear interacting with police officers just because they are lawfully carrying.” 

SAF was one of the few gun rights groups to speak out about Philando Castile’s shooting. 

Texas Gun Rights

Texas Gun Rights, one of the country’s biggest state-level gun groups, couched its defense of the Second Amendment in criticism of “leftist, Communist agitators.” Without naming Trump or other Republicans, the group said leftists “have a Second Amendment right to carry, with as many magazines as they want, even at a protest. Anyone saying otherwise does not truly support or understand the Second Amendment.”

The group also re-tweeted Kyle Rittenhouse, who wrote in response to Pretti’s shooting: “Carry everywhere. It is your right. #ShallNotBeInfringed.”

Groups we haven’t heard from

Several prominent gun rights organizations stayed mute. The Firearms Policy Coalition ignored the Pretti shooting, instead tweeting about assault weapon bans and the ineptitude of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Three days after the shooting, the group tweeted: “Carry everywhere. Always. It’s your right,” without mentioning Pretti.

The United States Concealed Carry Association, which stresses the necessity of armed personal defense, has been tweeting out videos from SHOT Show, an annual firearms trade show that concluded the day before Pretti was killed. The show’s organizer, the National Shooting Sports Association, also sidestepped the shooting.