I have never “published” two essays on the same day – but here goes. The “Sunday Story” was ready to go, but the events of yesterday demand a response. Here it is.
Concealed Carry
Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) set a new standard for Americans. If you carry a concealed weapon, you are eligible for an “instant” death penalty. You don’t have to pull the gun out, you don’t have to shoot, you don’t even have to threaten. Just the mere fact that you are “carrying” means that four or five DHS agents can shoot you, on the ground, in the back, on the street, even if your gun is “whisked away” by one of their compatriots, prior to execution.
I’m not a gun guy. All of my “guns” are closed barreled track starting pistols. But I do understand there’s an inherent danger in carrying those guns. They “look” real, and, in the right set of circumstances, they might elicit a “real” response by law enforcement. So I’m careful how I store, transport, and carry them; especially because I often do so on public school grounds. But here’s a point: even if there were real, in the state of Ohio, I can carry a concealed weapon “at will” (not on school grounds). We are a “Constitutional Carry State”, defining the Second Amendment to the Constitution as allowing all eligible citizens to have a concealed weapon.
Minnesota is not a “Constitutional Carry” state. They require concealed carry permits to have a concealed weapon. And, Alex Pretti, a 37 year-old ICU nurse at Minnesota’s Veteran’s Hospital, had a permit to carry a weapon. And he was executed by a squad of Homeland Security “agents” on Saturday morning.
Brandishing
Why was he carrying a concealed weapon at the moment he stopped to help a woman shoved down in the snow by ICE? Because it’s his right to do so. Because, whether I like it or not, America is “awash” in guns. Alex Pretti isn’t the only “non-right-winger” I know who “packs” a gun. It’s just as much his right to do so, as it is the “right-wingers” who proclaim their fealty to the Second Amendment.
Secretary Noem had her “cover story” ready to go. Pretti was “brandishing a weapon”. As I learned in my service on the Licking County Grand Jury, “brandishing” has a very specific legal definition. If a person reveals a weapon for the purpose of threat, then it’s “brandished”. It might simply be the lift of a T-shirt, revealing the handle of the gun in the waistband.
But what if the Federal “agents” are the ones who lift the shirt? And what if the they lift the shirt, after they level Mr. Pretti on the ground, with six agents holding him down? And what if, a Federal “agent” takes the gun, and steps away back into the street? Is Alex Pretti “brandishing” a weapon that is no longer on his person? Watch the video, the shots are fired after the gun is removed.
That’s not any kind of legal law enforcement activity. That’s an execution.
Rear-Guard Action
ICE knows they’re in trouble. They have done everything they can to control the narrative, and to block outside investigation. Even the FBI isn’t allowed to be involved in this crime. DHS is doing their own, internally controlled investigation. Want to bet what the conclusions will be?
The Minneapolis police department is trying to push their way in. They recognize that there can be no justice without a trusted, impartial agency looking into this atrocity. Ultimately it will be up to the Courts. A Minnesota Federal Court already has demanded that all evidence be “preserved” by DHS.
The Administration is fighting a “valiant” rear-guard action, trying to invert the blame. It’s the “violent protestors”, it’s that the Minneapolis Police aren’t helping, it’s the Mayor and the Governor encouraging protest, it’s that ICE has a “hard job”. There’s no talk about their failure in this “mission” to rid America of migrants.
Lying Eyes
It all comes back to believing your “lying eyes”. We can all see the altercation. It’s very clear what went on. We can even see the agent in the gray coat (no uniforms for ICE) grab the gun from Pretti’s back, and step back from the “scrum”. That’s when ICE opened fire. We’ve heard all sorts of terms about ICE: “bully-boys”, Gestapo, America’s Brownshirts. That is what they look like. But it also looks like a bunch of untrained people given weapons, and a mandate to do “whatever it takes”.
What needs to happen? ICE needs to withdraw. They need to regroup. Ultimately, in some future administration with a more reasoned view of the world, ICE needs to be dissolved and replaced. But assuredly Trump needs to get back to what he promised in the campaign: that they would remove the worst criminals. That does not include five year-old boys, or old men in the underwear (a US Citizen), or seventeen year-olds on their way to school. The sooner Trump realizes that the current ICE actions are simply stiffening opposition, the sooner things will “get better” for him.
Unless of course, the goal is to create this chaos, in order to claim insurrection, enabling Trump to disrupt local American governments with Federal intervention. Isn’t that what all of the “Second Amendment” folks were afraid of; the “Black Helicopters” swooping in to take over?
They might be coming now.
My dear friends on the Left, there is a lot we can agree on and a lot we do not know and may never know, that you have sadly already concluded was murder, a completely irresponsible act, that does nothing but create chaos you are clearly in favor of. I am as sick as you with the shootings, but whose fault is it? Like it or not ICE is doing their LEGAL job, it is illegal to interfere, but you all actually think you have a right to interfere. I taught my children about rights, and made sure they understood that every right has a corresponding responsibility. You do not have a right to show up with a gun, impede law enforcement and think everything will be OK. Whether he had the gun in hand becomes irrelevant, you are now a threat that has to be dealt with in a nono second. Results are seldom what any of us want.
I agree, this all very disturbing. It feels like Minneapolis is being attacked and I agree people are being executed. This is not America. Protest go on all the time, I have been to a couple. The police don’t freak out, they stand by and watch. This is different. And, Trump has gone way over from his promise to rid us of dangerous criminals. I don’t think he even cares what is going on tight now. I do think conservatives are going to be hard pressed to win another election for a while. Our country is being destroyed, but I think it has been going on the last two presidencies, just in different ways.
I agree, this was a sickening execution of an unarmed (well, disarmed) man. As usual, I agree with almost all of this. But I’m not ready to dismiss so readily the question of why he was carrying a loaded gun with magazine by simply saying , “b/c its his right to do so.” That’s far too facile. Its important to find out WHY. Yes, it was his right, but just b/c you CAN do something doesn’t mean you SHOULD do something. Knowingly carrying a gun into what you know to be highly volatile situation is a bad idea. Like you I’m indignant at Noem, Vance et al instantly concluding that this guy was “brandishing” a weapon, or Ms Love was a “domestic terrorist.” There needs to be a REAL investigation. But part of that has to include why was this guy bringing a loaded gun & plenty of ammo into a dangerous situation. Not that, whatever the answer is, it would justify this killing: but it would shed light & context (PS, and I do own 3 guns, all shotguns).
You and I agree completely. And, IF there was a possibility that there could be a legitimate investigation, certainly the fact that he “took a gun” into this situation is concerning. (Though I do need to say, that while I am NOT a gun guy, I do have friends who wear a gun like a carry a wallet, it’s just part of what they do). There is another point I need to make, the more I’ve watched the videos. If the purpose of ICE was to gain “control” over the subject, then the constant use of pepper spray, directly into his face, makes no sense. The shear physical pain of the constant irritant is going to require some effort to avoid it, and so they are literally unable to “submit”. It’s unprofessional, as is a lot of what the ICE guys are doing. They are the wrong force in the wrong place doing to wrong thing.