{"id":18204,"date":"2026-01-26T11:22:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T11:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/nra-warns-against-demonizing-law-abiding-citizens-after-pretti-killing-in-minneapolis\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T11:22:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T11:22:07","slug":"nra-warns-against-demonizing-law-abiding-citizens-after-pretti-killing-in-minneapolis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/nra-warns-against-demonizing-law-abiding-citizens-after-pretti-killing-in-minneapolis\/","title":{"rendered":"NRA warns against \u2018demonizing law-abiding citizens\u2019 after Pretti killing in Minneapolis"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The National Rifle Association criticized a U.S. assistant attorney’s rush to judgment in the killing of Alex Pretti by Border Patrol officers in Minneapolis on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Pretti, a 37-year old U.S. citizen and ICU nurse, had a handgun on his person before his encounter with several immigration officers. But in videos reviewed by several news outlets, Pretti did not appear to reach for his weapon<\/a> before agents disarmed him and shot him on the ground.<\/p>\n

Carrying a handgun in public is legal with a permit in Minnesota, and Pretti was a lawful gun owner – a fact the NRA has seemingly taken into consideration.<\/p>\n

The NRA on Saturday refuted a comment made by Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, who posted to X<\/a>: “If you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you.”<\/p>\n

The gun rights advocacy group, in a quote tweet on X<\/a>called Essayli’s remarks “dangerous and wrong,” adding, “responsible public voices should be awaiting a full investigation, not making generalizations and demonizing law-abiding citizens.”<\/p>\n

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This sentiment from the First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California is dangerous and wrong.<\/p>\n

Responsible public voices should be awaiting a full investigation, not making generalizations and demonizing law-abiding citizens. https:\/\/t.co\/9fMz3CL29o<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

— NRA (@NRA)”https:\/\/twitter.com\/NRA\/status\/2015227627464728661?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>January 25, 2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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In an earlier statement on Pretti’s killing, the NRA called Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz a “radical progressive politician<\/a>” and accused him without evidence of inciting violence against law enforcement, but stopped short of defending the officers’ actions.<\/p>\n

“As we await these facts and gain a clearer understanding, we urge the political voices to lower the temperature to ensure their constituents and law enforcement officers stay safe,” the NRA wrote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement on Saturday that “an individual approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun.” Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem said at a press conference that the officer who killed Pretti feared for his life and “fired defensive shots.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter and producer for MS NOW. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jan. 25, 2026, 2:28 PM EST The National Rifle Association criticized a U.S. assistant attorney’s rush to judgment in the killing of Alex Pretti by Border Patrol officers in Minneapolis on Saturday. Pretti, a 37-year old U.S. citizen and ICU nurse, had a handgun on his person before his encounter with several immigration officers. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trump"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}