The hypocrisy of the left on guns has never been more transparent than in the aftermath of the Alex Pretti shooting. Democrats are performing Olympic-level mental gymnastics to paint Pretti, who confronted federal law enforcement officers while armed with a loaded gun and extra ammunition, as some kind of martyr whose Second Amendment rights were violated.
Yep, they’re defending the Second Amendment now. They're willing to throw their entire gun control playbook out the window when it suits their political narrative. The sudden concern for gun rights from people who've spent decades trying to strip them away would be laughable if it weren't so transparently cynical.
Former Rep. Gabby Giffords, a gun violence survivor who has now made it her mission pushing gun control, stepped into this mess with a statement that exposed the entire charade.
"Alex was a 37-year-old ICU nurse who served veterans at the VA hospital and cared deeply about his patients," she wrote in a post on X. "He was a lawful gun owner who was protesting in his community when the agents detained, attacked, and then fatally shot him. He had joined protests following the killing of fellow Minnesotan Renee Nicole Good earlier this month. He had the right to be there and should still be alive."
Alex Pretti has been identified as the man shot and killed by federal agents in Minnesota this morning. Our hearts are with his family, friends, and the Minnesota community as people everywhere grieve this unjustifiable act of violence.
— GIFFORDS (@GIFFORDS_org) January 25, 2026
Alex was a 37-year-old ICU nurse who… pic.twitter.com/ujQlBSevlx
Notice how Giffords emphasized that Pretti was a "lawful gun owner." In this context, that detail is completely meaningless. Whether he obtained his firearm legally doesn't matter when he's using it to resist federal officers. But Giffords' statement accidentally revealed something critical about the left's position on guns. They don't have principles. They have talking points that shift based on whatever is politically convenient at any given moment.
Here's where it gets really good. Giffords' own anti-gun organization has an entire section on their website explaining why guns at protests are dangerous and should be restricted.
According to the Giffords Law Center, "Firearms in and around democratic environments threaten not only public safety but also the integrity and trust in our most fundamental political processes." They argue that "the presence of guns at protests and demonstrations not only chills the exercise of our fundamental freedoms, such as freedom of speech and assembly, it also makes people more likely to be shot."
ICYMI: The Left Doesn’t Want You to Know This About Alex Pretti, the Man the Border Patrol Shot
The website also warns that "in recent years, our nation has experienced a rise in political violence and armed extremism. Incidents of intimidation and violence at polling places and political events have increased, creating an environment of fear and coercion that is harming the foundational principles of democracy." They claim that "armed groups and individuals, driven by extremist ideologies, have increasingly targeted democratic processes and institutions."
Extremist ideologies… like anti-immigration enforcement ideologies? Somehow, I suspect that’s not what she meant.
They even cite research to back up their anti-gun stance at protests.
A 2021 study found that demonstrations involving at least one armed individual turn violent or destructive 16% of the time, and armed demonstrations are nearly six times as likely to turn violent or destructive compared to unarmed demonstrations. The study also found that armed protests account for less than 2% of the total number of demonstrations in the US, yet they account for 10% of all violent or destructive demonstrations.1
So let me get this straight. When conservatives exercise their Second Amendment rights at protests, it's "armed extremism" that threatens democracy. When a left-wing activist shows up to a protest with a loaded gun and extra ammo and then resists federal law enforcement, he's a hero whose rights were violated. Once again, according to the left, the rules change depending on who's holding the gun and what cause they're supporting.
This isn't about principles when you’re a Democrat. It's about power.
The left doesn't actually care about gun rights or constitutional protections. They care about controlling the narrative and using whatever argument serves their political interests at the moment. Does the Democratic Party believe in anything? Do they have any actual principles? They repeatedly make it clear that they do not.
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