The Daily Populous Wednesday January 28th, 2026 morning edition
Authored by rollingstone.com and submitted by rollingstone

Donald Trump and the Republican Party have spent years preaching the sanctity of the Second Amendment, opposing meaningful regulation of the right to bear arms at practically every turn. They have made clear this week, once again, that they have no trouble suspending their reverence for the Constitution whenever it is politically convenient.

On Saturday, ICE agents in Minneapolis shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse who was legally carrying a gun before federal law enforcement swarmed him on the street, disarmed him, and then shot him repeatedly. In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, the Department of Homeland Security posted an image of Pretti’s gun on a car seat, claiming he intended to “massacre law enforcement.” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller called Pretti a “would-be assassin.” FBI Director Kash Patel said, falsely, on Fox News the following morning, “You cannot bring a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want. It’s that simple. You don’t have a right to break the law.”

Pretti carrying a gun on the streets of Minneapolis was entirely legal, with Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara confirming he held a valid permit to carry in public. The Trump administration has been scrambling, largely unsuccessfully, to defend ICE against widespread backlash to the killing, and given the abundance of video appearing to demonstrate an egregious miscarriage of justice, officials grasped at the gun as a way to pin the blame on Pretti.

Trump took the baton on Tuesday. “You know, you can’t have guns,” he said to reporters on the White House lawn. “You can’t walk in with guns. You just can’t. You can’t. Listen, you can’t walk in with guns. You can’t do that. But it’s just a very unfortunate incident.”

The president reiterated his opposition to Pretti carrying a gun a few hours later while speaking to reporters in Iowa. “He certainly shouldn’t have been carrying a gun,” Trump said. “We view that as a very unfortunate incident. I don’t like that he had a gun. I don’t like that he had two fully loaded magazines. That’s a lot of bad stuff.” Editor’s picks

The president’s comments don’t seem to jibe with his defense of Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the St. Louis couple who pointed firearms at protesters moving past their house in 2020. “They were legal, the weapons,” Trump said. The president has also praised Kyle Rittenhouse, who later the same year brought a semi-automatic rifle to a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and killed two people amid the unrest. “He should not have had to suffer through a trial for that,” Trump said of the then-teenager, who was acquitted of homicide charges.

Trump decrying Pretti for carrying a gun on Tuesday is also at odds with his longstanding, full-throated support for the Second Amendment. The president has sided with the gun industry and opposed regulation whenever possible, including in the wake of mass shooting events. He addressed the National Rifle Association’s annual conference in Houston in 2022 just days after a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, a few hundred miles away. Trump blamed school administrators, not guns, for school shootings, and did a little dance for the audience after he finished speaking. Trending Stories Alex Pretti Helped Veterans and Owned a Gun. Why Is Country Music Silent About His Death? ‘Chaos’: Behind the Scenes of Amazon’s Melania Trump Doc Neil Young Trashes Amazon, Gives His Complete Musical Catalog to Greenland for Free Trump, Noted 2nd Amendment Champion: ‘You Can’t Have Guns’

Trump has continued to advocate for Americans carrying guns since retaking office last year. “I’m in favor of it,” he said in the Oval Office, speaking about the possibility of expanding concealed carry to Washington, D.C. “I’m a Second Amendment person,” he continued. “People have to be able to protect themselves.”

Trump of course pardoned hundreds of rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 in an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election, many of whom were carrying weapons, including guns. The rioters paid for breaching the Capitol with prison sentences, which were later commuted by Trump. Pretti was not afforded the right to a trial. He instead paid with his life for the supposed crime of legally carrying a gun in public while the administration terrorized his city, shot dead on the street by a group of masked federal agents.

Ninjakittysdad on January 27th, 2026 at 21:19 UTC »

That’s odd. The conservative sub doesn’t seem to have a single post about this. I wonder why they don’t want talk about it. I guess when your life revolves around sucking fascist dick, you can forgive if you get pissed on a little.

neutrino71 on January 27th, 2026 at 21:15 UTC »

You need to understand what he means when he says "you". More classic in group/out group thinking from the fascist-in-chief

twirlingmypubes on January 27th, 2026 at 21:14 UTC »

Trump historical wanted to take guns. He only changed his position to gain support