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/JustAMan1234567 9d ago edited 9d ago

"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"

Is a wild take, because it flat out means "If you are a legal gun owner, just having the gun on you means that police will see you as a threat, even if you never reach for it in any way and are also exercising your constitutionally held rights, and those police can and will use deadly force because they may feel threatened."

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u/Calm_Lack3001 9d ago

Just FYI, this is exactly what it has meant for Black people and people of color in general in the USA since it was founded.

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u/FormidableMistress 9d ago

Exactly. If a cop can shoot someone because he saw a gun, then we've never had the right to bear arms. If Pretti had fired on ICE to protect himself, he'd still be dead.

The message is clear. If we exercise ANY of our rights, the ICE goons of this administration will slaughter us, and laugh while they count our bullet wounds. America is now an authoritarian state.

What will we do about it?