Hayley Day / The Daily News 

Geof Richie’s father was a U.S. National Guardsman who taught him to shoot in Alaska.

By 19, Richie secured his first concealed carry permit in Anchorage.

On Tuesday, the now 50-year-old Longview resident protested along Ocean Beach Highway near Safeway, with his .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol in a holster across his chest and his permit on hand. 

He is among a growing number of left-leaning gun owners vocalizing their right to bear arms after the second person was killed this month by a federal officer in Minneapolis.

He joined opponents of President Donald Trump at the rally, hosted by Cascade Forward, which has also spearheaded “No Kings” protests in the Longview Civic Circle, turning the traditionally conservative issue of gun rights on its head as younger, more liberal people purchase firearms. 

Richie said he fears infringement on his constitutional right to gun ownership following the Saturday fatal shooting of Alex Jeffrey Pretti, 37, in Minneapolis by two federal agents.

A Tuesday internal U.S. Customs and Border Protection analysis says Pretti was disarmed before two officers fired shots at him as he laid detained on the ground after resisting arrest.

Family members told the Associated Press that Pretti owned a handgun and had a permit to carry a concealed handgun in Minnesota.

He probably “carried it everywhere,” said Richie, adding that it “is perfectly legal,” as long as the owner doesn’t enter an establishment barring weapons. 

But days after the shooting, FBI Director Kash Patel said Pretti shouldn’t have been carrying a loaded gun at a protest. 

When questioned about Pretti’s death, Trump said, “You can’t have guns. You can’t walk in with guns. It’s a very unfortunate thing.”

On Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reiterated the president’s support for “Second Amendment rights of law-abiding American citizens.”

But Leavitt added: “When you are bearing arms and confronted by law enforcement, you are raising … the risk of force being used against you.”

The National Rifle Association responded on X Tuesday, denouncing such ideas.

“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,” the post states.

Limiting where gun owners can carry also didn’t sit well with Dominic King, who brought a concealed pistol and a permit to Tuesday’s Second Amendment rally in Longview.

The 22-year-old said the Trump administration’s early accounts of Pretti as a “domestic terrorist” who was “brandishing” a weapon contradicts “what we see with our eyes and hear with our ears” on bystander videos of the shooting.

Because of the current political upheaval, the Utah native and child of immigrants said family members and friends with similar backgrounds are considering buying guns for the first time.

Marginalized communities in particular need protection, said King, who is queer and a Person of Color. 

“This is what the Second Amendment is for,” King said. 

A 2022 study from NORC, an independent nonprofit housed at the University of Chicago, shows a similar shift in gun ownership. 

New gun owners between 2020 and 2022 were much more likely to be younger and People of Color compared to pre-pandemic gun owners in America, the study shows.

Views on gun ownership also appear to be changing.

Both the first-time gun owners, and people who owned guns before the pandemic, supported more lenient gun policies — like expanding concealed carry permits and shortening waiting periods before gun purchases — than nongun owners, according to the study.

Historically, conservatives have dominated gun ownership.

A 2017 Pew Research poll shows Republicans were far more likely to own guns than Democrats. Those who did own guns, were also more likely to be NRA members if they were Republicans, another Pew Research poll at that time shows.

Yet, liberal protesters on Tuesday said today’s political climate is leading them to gun ownership.

Diana Alderman, 63, of Longview, plans to buy a gun in the next two months due to fear of living under the Trump administration. 

Jennifer Zacher, 57, a lifelong Longview resident is also considering buying a gun for protection from an unpredictable federal government. 

“If it can happen in Minnesota,” she said about the recent killings of Pretti and Renee Good, “it can happen here.”

At the same time as the protest, nine minutes east in Kelso, Stephen McCoy, of Longview, shopped at the firearm store Gators Custom Guns.

McCoy, 67, said he too is a staunch gun supporter with fear of those rights being stripped from Americans.

But to McCoy, the Democrats are more likely to make those infringements than Republicans.

He said gun protection is needed — not necessarily because of the government’s actions, but due what he sees as a rise in crime forcing people to protect themselves.

By the time the police come to your door after issues like a burglary or trespass report, McCoy said it’s typically too late.

Still, he said he recognizes that “more people are for guns than are against.”

King also sees a commonality, especially among the area’s working class.

Issues like gun rights shouldn’t divide the political Left and Right. Instead, issues like wealth equality should unite them.

“It’s not neighbor versus neighbor,” King said, “It’s us versus people with power who want to consolidate that power.”