DAVID HARSANYI: TRUMP ADMINISTRATION MISFIRES ON SECOND AMENDMENT

The testimonies will come about two weeks after the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents on Jan. 24.

After the shooting, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem suggested Pretti committed “domestic terrorism,” while FBI Director Kash Patel said a person “cannot bring a firearm” to “any sort of protest that you want.”

Paul said “nobody with any objectivity” watching footage of Pretti’s altercation believes he was assaulting the officers, adding that “the opposite appears to be true.”

“So we have to get some rules of the game, and we can’t have the government justifying this type of behavior because the vast majority of Americans think this was unfair, what happened,” Paul said on Fox Business’s Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, guest-hosted by Cheryl Casone.

“Also, the intimation or actually the explicit call to say, ‘You don’t have a Second Amendment right to carry arms in a protest,’ really flies in the face of most of our Second Amendment community.”

“I can tell you I’ve been to dozens and dozens of rallies and or protests where people are visibly armed or have concealed carry. So the people who’re saying this, we need to get this straight so we can have some kind of awareness, and people who go to protest, that they know what the rules of the game are,” Paul said.

Paul also said if recording law enforcement during operations counts as “assault,” then people need to know this and know “you could be shot.” He added, “We need a clarification on all of this,” but said he would “reserve judgment” on Noem for the time being. 

Paul said he believes the guns in the shooting were “prematurely fired” when someone shouted, “Gun! Gun! Gun!” and caused someone to believe the perpetrator was carrying a firearm. He added that this shooting may have been a mistake, but if the Trump administration won’t own up to it, people “aren’t going to accept that.”

“You want Minnesota to calm down? We have to show that there’s a just and independent investigation here,” Paul said.

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Noem will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee in March. It comes as several senators, including Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and John Fetterman (D-PA), are calling for her firing. 

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) took to X on Sunday to defend the “Constitutionally protected God-given right” to carry a firearm after Pretti’s death. He was rebutting a claim that “there is a high likelihood” law enforcement will be “legally justified” in shooting people approaching them with a gun.