More on Pretti
A lot of info and opinion – mostly the latter going around about the shooting VA ICU nurse, Alex Pretti. Multiple videos exist of the event, and it seems the critical minute or so was covered from a couple of angles. One such second-to-second description is at ABC News.
Seems incontrovertible that up until Pretti was tear-gassed and taken down, he neither reached for nor touched his gun. Now, I know a lot of folks seem to think he was unwise to carry it at all near a potential confrontation. Hard to dispute that, but given how violent some of the protesters have been, you would think almost anyone with a license might have thought it appropriate, if not even prudent, to have some means of defense available. What is indisputable – and funny – how the antigun left is now defending his right to concealed carry, and how many supposedly progun rightists are twisting themselves into pretzels to somehow condemn it while supporting concealed carry in general (which probably means they want it for themselves but not really for anyone else.)
It would be wise to look at all the supposedly “pro-gun/pro-Constitution” figures like Kash Patel issuing statements like “yes you can carry, but not when your are protesting.” Just remember that if you take the Constitution seriously, you need to take ALL of it seriously. We complain that the ACLU seems to concentrate all their efforts on the 1st Amendment and ignore the 2nd – well, they shouldn’t be mutually exclusive to ANYONE, rightist assholes or leftist asswipes included. Interesting comments from a frequent subject here:
Kyle Rittenhouse has urged gun owners to “carry everywhere” in the wake of criticism from the Trump administration over the presence of a gun in the death of Alex Pretti in Minnesota.
“Carry everywhere,” the 23-year-old wrote on X. “It is your right,” he continued, adding the hashtag #ShallNotBeInfringed.
Texas Gun Rights, the state affiliate for the National Association for Gun Rights of which Rittenhouse was named outreach director in June 2024, shared a statement condemning the Trump administration’s attempts to rationalize Pretti’s murder by highlighting the gun he was carrying. Daily Beast
Note as well that Rittenhouse blames the whole situation on Biden’s open immigration policies, not the current administration.
Current theory based on multiple videos says that the agents around Pretti opened fire on him when one of them had a negligent discharge, thinking they were under attack. The most likely candidate for that ND honor is thought to be the agent who took Pretti’s gun – he was not observed with a drawn gun before the shooting but appeared to be holding a SiG P320 afterwards, the same model gun the Feds say Pretti was carrying. Sounds familiar? It should, several columns here at TAH covered it, the supposed self-discharged gun accused (fallaciously) of killing an Air Force TAH 1, TAH 2, TAH 3, TAH 4 airman last year. Ironic the same gun, supposedly cleared of going off spontaneously, is now accused of – going off spontaneously.
Either that, or the agent carrying it had a negligent discharge, starting the whole mess. Given the SiGs lack of a manual safety, this is a fairly likely scenario. HOWEVER, BE WARNED: there is a video around of the agent supposedly showing said discharge – well, there may be more than one but that’s all I have seen – that is clearly bogus. Shows the agent walking along, the muzzle flash etc. of the gun firing – but the slide doe not move at all and there is no recoil. Very obvious fake, and I suspect it will become ubiquitous. Be warned.
Me, I still think an open investigation is in order – again.
Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Crime
“Can carry” and “it’s probably pretty stupid to carry in situations where I am intending to physically confront federal agents in a chaotic situation-especially when they broke one of my ribs last week when doing the same thing” are both true.
Did the guy deserve to get shot? Maybe not-we don’t know until we investigate. Did he choose to worsen conditions in which his own shooting was far more likely, even if by accident? Yes.
As long as the agents are judged only by what they knew in the moments leading up to the shooting, investigate away.
As soon as he interfered with law enforcement he became an armed criminal, and then he violently resisted arrest. Bad things can happen to armed criminals resisting arrest.
Any comparison to Rittenhouse is ludicrous.
Yep… play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
If the protests are “so peaceful” you need to be packing heat then you shouldn’t go. He didn’t bring that pistol to protect himself from “protestors”, be brough it as a tool of escalation.
He’s an adult that is responsible for his decisions…bad decisions. In other words…
Except it isn’t the same gun.
Here you go again with your adorable false equivalency stuff. It isn’t even the model (M18) with the safety which is located on all military models. It also has a number of modifications including (but limited to); trigger, barrel, grips, sights, possibly others as well. Hard to say what effect that on the gun.
Sig knew that some of the civilian models had factory defect and issued a recall years ago. I have no idea if this is one defective guns and would give it a very low probability of it being defective as this appears to be a case of the agent fumbling with the gun and setting it off; but it can’t be ruled out either. To say it is the same gun is clearly false.
Being prudent means not going to the protests or interfering with federal agents because you don’t like the law. So much for prudence.
Then they aren’t pro gun despite their protestations.
However; I will point out that he wasn’t carrying legally as he had no Minnesota ID or the permit which is required by law. This had zero effect on the encounter as it wasn’t known till after the shooting and federal agents have no authority to enforce Minnesota law in any case.
Since his work ID was prominently displayed on his jacket it does raise the question if he came directly from work? If so, he would have violated federal law by having the pistol on the grounds of a VA hospital.
I read an article yesterday where his mother stated he hadn’t been to work in several weeks. I’ll try to find it.
I’d like to point out something here in your premise he was carrying because the “protests” are not peaceful but instead violent. You neglect one thing, he was part of the protest, not some neutral observer. A report was made yesterday that this is not the first time he was present and participated in one, receiving a broken rib allegedly. Although I didn’t see any indication he was in any kind of pain while resisting arrest in that scrum before the shots. As such he wasn’t carrying to protect himself FROM violent protestors. They are his buddies.
To me that puts a different view as to why he would show up armed to that one.
In any case a “prudent person” would not be at the protests knowing they tend to become violent. Even more, a “prudent CCW” person would know not to inject themselves into a situation that was almost certain to become violent if there is no need to do so like it is outside their place of employment or home.
Anyone notice that the pistol pictured as Pretti’s gun is NOT box stock? I saw after market grips, mag well and even more pertinent to a potential ND, an after market trigger. I have no doubt SIG is going to take cover behind the mods and blame them if the investigation shows the first shot was from that gun.
IIRC, I saw that same model online at Academy Sporting Goods about a month ago, it was kind of gawdy in appearance, the white handle and “pink-like” tone. It was also on sale or possibly being discontinued. The pistol just doesn’t look like something Sig would offer or that Sig purchasers would be interested in. Ah well, just my opinion. It seems to shoot well enough.
I wonder how many ICE rounds made contact compared with the number that were fired. Looks like some good shooting on, under pressure.
I am all for defensive carry, I’m very often armed. However… While Pretti absolutely had the first amendment right to carry, and the required permit to do so, I still have to ask who he thought he was going to defend himself from. Protestors? No, he was one of them. Had the broken rib from the last time he got into a kerfluffle with ICE last week. Did he think he was going to go full-on John Wayne with ICE? Yeah, that’s a good idea. Did he intend to go out in a blaze of glory, strike a blow for freedom by targeting ICE? It’s a possibility, but we’ll never know. All gun owners need to stop and think before they strap on that handgun. And if your daily errands include inserting yourself into a lawful ICE apprehension, it’s probably best that you leave your gun at home.