PRETTI: Why no Second Amendment supporters?

I write with deep concern about the killing of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital, and to ask a question many Americans should ask: Why has there been so little outrage from prominent supporters of the Second Amendment?

On Jan. 24, 2026, Mr. Pretti was shot and killed by federal immigration enforcement agents during an operation in Minneapolis. He was a U.S. citizen, a lawful gun owner with a valid concealed-carry permit, and a healthcare professional devoted to caring for Veterans. He reportedly had no criminal record and was widely respected in his community.

Video footage shows Mr. Pretti attending a protest and filming federal agents. When he attempted to help a woman and child who had been pushed to the ground, he was knocked down, pepper-sprayed, beaten by multiple federal agents, and ultimately shot multiple times after an agent appeared to seize and remove his legally owned firearm. Despite this, federal authorities initially labeled him a “domestic terrorist,” a claim that video evidence and eyewitness accounts seriously call into question.

Mr. Pretti was exercising rights protected by both the First and Second Amendments. He was lawfully armed and engaged in constitutionally protected speech and assembly in a public space. The Second Amendment is often defended as a safeguard against government overreach. When a licensed, law-abiding gun owner is killed by government agents under such circumstances, silence from gun-rights advocates is astonishing!

If constitutional rights matter only when politically convenient, they are meaningless. The killing of Alex Pretti demands transparency, accountability, and an independent review. Silence in the face of the questionable use of deadly force by government agents against a lawful gun owner does not defend liberty — it erodes it.

LEN CROSBY
Post Falls