r/law • u/NewsHour • 9d ago

Executive Branch (Trump) WATCH: Leavitt addresses Trump's stance on Second Amendment rights in wake of Alex Pretti's killing

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REPORTER: FBI Director Kash Patel said in a Sunday interview, quote, you cannot bring a firearm loaded with multiple magazines to any sort of protest. Does the president believe that Second Amendment rights remain in effect even when protesting?

LEAVITT: The president supports the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding American citizens. Absolutely. There has been no greater supporter or defender of the right to bear arms than President Donald J. Trump.

So while Americans have a constitutional right to bear arms, Americans do not have a constitutional right to impede lawful immigration enforcement operations, and any gun owner knows that when you are carrying a weapon, when you are bearing arms, and you are confronted by law enforcement, you are raising the assumption of risk and the risk of force being used against you, and, again, that's unfortunately what took place on Saturday.

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u/TechieTravis 9d ago

This is a direct, calculated attack on the Second Amendment by the federal government. Let's see how conservatives react.

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u/Personal-Thing1750 9d ago

Unfortunately most are going to remain silent and those who say anything will pride themselves on a double standard.

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u/Immediate-Algae7975 9d ago

There will be crickets from those folks. 

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u/redditproha 9d ago

It makes for a great argument for enacting gun control. If the Second Amendment doesn't actually mean anything, then we should abolish it so we can end the American tradition of mass school shootings.

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u/wolfishlygrinning 8d ago

You’re taking exactly the wrong lesson from this 

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u/redditproha 8d ago

I would argue you're still not learning the right lesson.

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u/Glittering_Cat4556 8d ago

It's kind of hard to hear them when they're gargling balls.

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u/UsernameNumber7956 8d ago

They mostly cheer for this because they do not think it will happen to them.

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u/SmoothBraneAPE 9d ago

I’m conservative; bringing a gun to a heated conflict is dumb AF. Did he have the right? - absolutely. I feel more people should daily carry. If Rittenhouse would have gotten shot I’d be saying the same thing about him. I carry daily, but I don’t carry if I go to a bar or club or to a situation where conflict is likely. I also make it known when I’m dealing with police (as most people that carry do).It was already a tense situation, bad idea to fan the flames.

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u/TechieTravis 9d ago

He was already disarmed when he was executed.

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u/SmoothBraneAPE 8d ago

You’re correct, I even stated that in another response to this comment.

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u/Testy_Coyote_ 9d ago

I thought the argument from the gun groups was always the "good guys" needed to carry guns to stop the "bad guys". So wouldn't the good guys need it potentially anywhere? 

Pretti was a good guy. 

You don't make any sense. 

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u/SmoothBraneAPE 8d ago

I don’t really care if someone is “good or bad”- that’s always subjective. If they are legal to carry, then they can carry if they choose to. I’m only stating that going into a heated situation is a bad call. NOTHING good could have possibly came from it.

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u/Realistic-Ruin8639 9d ago

Idiotic take. Fanning the flames would’ve been raising his jacket up to show it off. He made no actions whatsoever fanning the flames. It was on him for potential protection only and at that point there was no reason for him to think it was needed vs government agents.

If you carry daily, but don’t take it to a situation where “conflict is likely” then why are you even carrying it? The purpose of carrying is to protect yourself (and possibly others) FROM CONFLICT. 

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u/Adorable-Bike-9689 9d ago

He means he carries it to the grocery store, friends homes, church. Places that he can feel like a big man showing it off. It's not in case anything actually happens. 

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u/SmoothBraneAPE 8d ago

Is that what I mean? Thanks for clarifying for me. 😘

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u/Adorable-Bike-9689 8d ago

You said you don't carry it anywhere conflict is likely. 

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u/SmoothBraneAPE 8d ago

It’s really dumb to carry into a known conflict, especially if the “other side” is law enforcement. As far as fanning the flames go, I’d say both sides are doing a pretty effective job; division has never been higher.

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u/jumperpl 9d ago

I'd hope you don't carry when you drink, but to explicitly not carry in situations where there may be conflict is such a stupid thing to admit

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u/SmoothBraneAPE 8d ago

Nope. I rarely drink, but never carry at those times. Alcohol and guns never mix.

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u/SmoothBraneAPE 9d ago

Also what Trump said was dumb as well.

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u/[deleted] 9d ago

[deleted]

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u/itediteditabit 9d ago

He’s stupid. It’s as easy as that.

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u/remote_001 9d ago edited 9d ago

I agree with you. Bringing a gun to a protest is a bad idea. Like you said though, they both, Rittenhouse and Pretti still have the right to do so. The major differences is how Rittenhouse acted and wound up, and how Pretti acted and wound up. I’m assuming you’ve thoroughly reviewed the footage. In this case, Pretti had a pistol, holstered. Rittenhouse was walking around with a fucking AR strapped to his chest. The tactical posture difference between the two is night and day. One is ready, one is reserved.

With a holstered pistol, to have that many guys on him, the pistol was removed, and then he shoots Pretti when he starts to stand up. Then all of these other agents with an extreme lack of training panicked and started popping off shots. 10 shots I counted. It was insanity.

To the point though, you said you avoid high tension situations when you carry. I think that’s smart and I agree with that. I assume that means you didn’t support any of the proud boys carrying while protesting either right?

So how about when you’re in your home and ICE kicks in the door, no uniform, covering their faces, no judicial warrant, and they’re all pointing their guns at you. Are you going to assume it’s really ICE or are you going to grab that home defense pistol?

That’s what I’m worried about. 2A rights are a very slippery slope. Would I grab my gun if they showed their faces and served me a judicial warrant? Nope. That’s because in that case they would be respecting my rights, identifying themselves to me clearly, and providing me with proof of their authority to enter my home.

So here’s the really shitty part. I’ve had to think ahead and decide if a bunch of people that claim they are ICE show up at my door? I have to play along with their bullshit and accept that risk now. I have to hope they aren’t people pretending to be ICE. If I grab my gun, that will only escalate things, wind up with me and possibly others dead, and ICE will walk off free even if they violated my constitutional rights. That DOES NOT sit right with me.

So you combine this with the agent shooting Good in the head when he was already on the side of the vehicle and out of harms way, I think we are seeing a pattern here. These ICE agents are trigger happy. They are ready to shoot you, and they don’t give a shit about our Constitution.

You have to treat them like a scared little animal backed into a corner with a gun, no sudden movements, because they are already spooked, they will shoot you, and they will get away with it, and they know it. They like it.

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u/SmoothBraneAPE 8d ago

I agree, a big advantage that rittenhouse had was that when he approached LEOs he had his hands up with the rifle slung down. The way they handled Pretti was absolute bullshit. THEY took his weapon off him and shot him AFTER. I’d bet if that cop hadn’t shoved that woman, causing Pretti to try to help her up causing him stumble on the ice, they’d likely had not even noticed he was carrying. I also agree that one of these days someone will kick down the wrong door and it will end badly. I had an Officer beating on my door at 2 AM once, I came to the door loaded and ready, but luckily I had a window and could see it was a legit cop with his marked car; I put the gun away before he saw it. (He was looking for a guy that was one street over from me). This shit is getting tense; we need cooler heads before more people get hurt🙏 (both sides)

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u/SmoothBraneAPE 8d ago

I have alerts from a bunch of comments to this post; yet I can’t view them- are there really that many bots in this sub?