The killing of Alex Pretti ought to power us to confront uncomfortable truths about who we defend, and why
The taking pictures demise of Alex Pretti by federal brokers in Minneapolis has ignited a firestorm throughout the gun rights group—and for as soon as, the key organizations obtained it proper. The NRA, Gun House owners of America, and different teams instantly referred to as for an impartial investigation and defended Pretti’s proper to hold. They pushed again towards Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Patrol officers who absurdly claimed that legally carrying a handgun at a protest proved intent to hurt federal brokers.
However right here’s the uncomfortable query we have to ask ourselves: Why did it take till 2026 for the NRA to defend a authorized gun proprietor killed by regulation enforcement with this type of vigor?
The Ghost of Philando Castile
Almost a decade in the past, in July 2016, Philando Castile was shot 5 occasions and killed by a police officer in St. Anthony, Minnesota. Castile had a allow. He disclosed his firearm to the officer. He did the whole lot proper. And he was killed in entrance of his girlfriend and her four-year-old daughter earlier than he might even attain for his ID.
The NRA’s response? A tepid assertion two days later that didn’t even use Castile’s identify. When the officer was acquitted of manslaughter the next yr, the nation’s strongest gun rights group—the one which claimed to defend each American’s proper to hold—mentioned nothing.
Different teams did higher. The Minnesota Gun House owners Caucus and Second Modification Basis each spoke out, calling Castile’s demise “troubling” and “a tragedy.” Bryan Strawser, chair of the Minnesota Gun House owners Caucus, put it merely: “We made an announcement as a result of it was the precise factor to do. There was a core ethical situation.”
So what modified between 2016 and 2026? Why does Alex Pretti get the full-throated protection that Philando Castile by no means obtained?
The Inconvenient Reply
Let’s not dance round it: Race issues. Philando Castile was Black. Alex Pretti was white. As Glenda Hatchett, who represented Castile’s household, requested pointedly: “If Philando had been white within the suburbs of Minneapolis, would they’ve mentioned one thing?”
The silence speaks volumes. For years, the gun rights motion has proclaimed that the Second Modification is for everybody, that it’s the nice equalizer, that an armed society is a well mannered society. We’ve mentioned that the precise to maintain and bear arms transcends race, class, and politics.
However when it mattered—when a authorized Black gun proprietor was killed for doing precisely what we inform each hid service to do—a lot of the motion went quiet.
This hypocrisy undermines the whole lot we declare to face for. If we solely defend gun homeowners who appear like us, vote like us, or stay the place we stay, then we’re not defending rights—we’re defending a tribe. And rights don’t work that manner.
The Federal Overreach No One Needed to Focus on
The scenario in Minneapolis has uncovered one other uncomfortable actuality: the gun rights motion’s relationship with regulation enforcement is sophisticated, inconsistent, and sometimes politically handy.
Operation Metro Surge has grow to be a constitutional nightmare. Federal brokers are allegedly getting into properties with out warrants, detaining folks based mostly on look, killing U.S. residents for noncompliance, and intimidating journalists. These are the sorts of “jack-booted authorities thugs” that Wayne LaPierre warned about within the Nineteen Nineties—besides now they’re working below a Republican administration.
And right here’s the place it will get messy for us.
For many years, gun rights teams have bought a story: The Second Modification exists as the last word test towards tyranny. We’ve fundraised on it, we’ve organized round it, we’ve advised tens of millions of gun homeowners that their AR-15s are the final line of protection towards a tyrannical authorities.
However what tyranny had been we actually making ready for?
The reply, if we’re sincere, is a really particular type: Democratic tyranny. Federal overreach was solely terrifying when Democrats had been in cost. When President Obama ordered a navy coaching train within the Southwest, conservative commentators warned of martial regulation and gun confiscation. Texas deployed the State Guard to observe the feds.
However when ICE and Border Patrol conduct what quantities to a navy occupation of an American metropolis below a Republican administration—full with warrantless house invasions, extrajudicial killings, and defiance of federal court docket orders—the place’s the alarm? The place are the militias mobilizing to defend the Structure? The place are the dire fundraising emails about tyranny?
The Reckoning We Requested For
An inner ICE memo leaked on the finish of 2025 revealed the company’s “wartime recruitment” technique, searching for candidates thinking about “gun rights organizations” and “tactical gear manufacturers.” In different phrases, they’re recruiting from us.
For years, the gun trade has bought military-style weapons with advertising and marketing that blurred the road between soldier and civilian. “As shut as you will get with out enlisting.” “Any mission, any situation, any foes, at any vary.” We created a tradition of “sofa commandos” who purchased tactical gear and educated for a struggle towards tyranny.
Now that struggle is right here—besides it’s not what we imagined. The tyranny isn’t a Democrat attempting to cross common background checks. It’s federal brokers killing Americans for legally carrying firearms at protests. It’s warrantless raids. It’s the federal government telling legally armed residents they’ll’t deliver weapons to demonstrations, regardless of many years of settled regulation in Minnesota and elsewhere.
And the “patriots” we cultivated? A few of them are actually carrying ICE badges.
What We Owe the Second Modification
If the gun rights motion goes to have any ethical credibility, we have to defend each authorized gun proprietor with the identical power—no matter their race, politics, or whether or not defending them is politically handy.
We owe Philando Castile an apology. We owe each Black, brown, and minority gun proprietor who watched the motion keep silent whereas one in every of their very own was killed for exercising his rights.
And we owe ourselves some exhausting truths: The Second Modification isn’t a partisan weapon. It’s not a defend for authoritarianism when our most well-liked social gathering is in energy. And if we solely care about constitutional rights once they’re being violated by the opposite group, then we don’t really care about rights in any respect.
Alex Pretti deserves justice. So did Philando Castile. The truth that one obtained a motion’s full assist and the opposite didn’t ought to disgrace us all.
The gun rights motion has spent many years making ready for a confrontation with tyranny. Effectively, it’s right here. The query is whether or not we’ve got the braveness to acknowledge it—even when it doesn’t match our most well-liked narrative.
Sources
The Guardian: “Professional-gun teams rapidly rallied for Alex Pretti. Why didn’t they do the identical for a Black gun proprietor?” February 4, 2026. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/04/alex-pretti-philando-castile-pro-gun-groups
CT Publish: “ICE and Border Patrol in Minnesota − accused of violating 1st, 2nd, 4th and tenth modification rights − are testing whether or not the Structure can survive.” https://www.ctpost.com/information/article/ice-and-border-patrol-in-minnesota-accused-of-21333162.php
Mom Jones: “Minneapolis Is the Violent Reckoning the Gun Rights Motion Has Lengthy Needed.” February 2026. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/02/minneapolis-ice-cbp-nra-alex-pretti-renee-good-guns-second-amendment/
