By Jarrett Renshaw
Jan 27 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday said Alex Pretti, the man fatally shot by a federal agent during a confrontation in Minneapolis, should not have been carrying a gun or fully loaded magazines, comments that put him at odds with gun rights groups and some Republicans.
Asked whether he agreed with administration officials who described Pretti as a domestic terrorist, Trump said: “I haven’t heard that, but certainly shouldn’t have been carrying a gun.”
Trump, speaking to reporters at an Iowa restaurant, later added: “He had a gun. I don’t like that. He had two fully loaded magazines. That’s a lot of bad stuff. And despite that, I’d say that’s … very unfortunate.”
Pretti, a licensed concealed-weapons holder, was killed on Saturday by federal agents during an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis. The shooting drew broad criticism and prompted a White House-ordered leadership shakeup.
Gun rights groups, including the influential National Rifle Association and Gun Owners of America, said Pretti was legally carrying a concealed gun. Bystander video of Pretti’s killing was widely shared, showing he never touched his gun before being shot and contradicting some Trump officials’ initial claims that he posed a threat to law enforcement.
“You absolutely can walk around with a gun, and you absolutely can peacefully protest while armed,” said Luis Valdes, a spokesman for the Gun Owners of America, a gun rights lobbying group. “It’s an American historical tradition that dates all the way back to the Boston Tea Party.”
“We are not happy,” Valdes said of Trump’s latest comments.
The National Rifle Association issued a statement on Tuesday evening after the president’s comments in Iowa.
“The NRA unequivocally believes that all law-abiding citizens have a right to keep and bear arms anywhere they have a legal right to be,” the group posted on X.
Gun rights groups are one of the Republican Party’s most loyal voting blocs. Such statements by Trump and other administration officials have opened a rift ahead of midterm elections in November.
Trump made his comments while greeting supporters at an Iowa restaurant before a scheduled speech on the economy. He said his border czar, Tom Homan, had met Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and was expected to meet Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey later on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw, additional reporting by Nathan Layne, editing by Colleen Jenkins and David Gregorio)
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