{"id":393909,"date":"2026-01-27T22:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T22:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/393909\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T22:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T22:36:09","slug":"jon-stewart-and-anderson-cooper-roast-trumps-seeming-abandonment-of-the-second-amendment-after-alex-pretti-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/393909\/","title":{"rendered":"Jon Stewart and Anderson Cooper roast Trump\u2019s seeming abandonment of the Second Amendment after Alex Pretti shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n

Your support makes all the difference.Read more<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump and other MAGA figures have been accused of abandoning the Second Amendment<\/a> after seeking to pin the blame for the shooting of Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis<\/a> on the fact that he was carrying a concealed firearm.<\/p>\n

Pretti, 37, an ICU nurse who was filming Border Patrol agents on Saturday morning, was shot dead after being pinned to the ground by officers who had apparently discovered his holstered gun and removed it before opening fire.<\/p>\n

Trump immediately posted a picture of Pretti\u2019s gun on his social media platform, writing: \u201cThis is the gunman\u2019s gun, loaded (with two additional full magazines!), and ready to go \u2013 What is that all about?\u201d<\/p>\n

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem<\/a> and Deputy Chief of Staff suggested without evidence that Pretti was a would-be \u201cassassin\u201d who was plotting to murder agents.<\/p>\n

Other members of Trump\u2019s administration \u2013 and sympathetic voices in the media \u2013\u00a0have suggested the fact that Pretti had the gun at a protest goes some way to explaining why he was shot. Pretti owned the gun legally and had a concealed carry licence, meaning he was not breaking any laws by having the weapon at a protest.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

The Daily Show host Jon Stewart called the Trump administration hypocrites for seemingly rejecting the validity of the Second Amendment while defending federal agents\u2019 killing of Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti (YouTube\/The Daily Show)<\/p>\n

FBI Director Kash Patel<\/a> told Fox News that even bringing a gun to a protest made clear someone doesn’t intend to be peaceful, and implicitly suggests it would be within federal agents’ rights to shoot that individual if they felt threatened by them. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou cannot bring a firearm loaded with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want. It\u2019s that simple.\u201d Patel told Fox News. \u201cNo one who wants to be peaceful shows up at a protest with a firearm that is loaded with two full magazines,\u201d<\/p>\n

CNN’s Andrew Cooper and The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart<\/a> were quick to zero in on the administration’s apparent hypocrisy when it comes to firearms and protests. <\/p>\n

Many on the right had vigorously defended Kyle Rittenhouse, who took a loaded assault rifle to a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, during the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, and shot three people, two of them fatally. Similarly, Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, openly fought with police and federal officers, threatened lawmakers, and brought weapons to the seat of American legislative power. <\/p>\n

\"Kyle<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Kyle Rittenhouse was lionized by many on the right after taking a firearm to a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on 25 August 2020, where he shot three people, two of them fatally (AP)<\/p>\n

Dozens of Trump supporters openly carried arms at protests at the Michigan state capitol in Lansing in 2020 to protests against Covid restrictions.<\/p>\n

Cooper aired a video package showing all of the times Trump has insisted that the Second Amendment<\/a> would be protected under his administration. <\/p>\n

“The Second Amendment<\/a> is under siege. Believe me,” Trump says in one clip. <\/p>\n

In another, he says that “if the left gains power, they will demolish the suburbs, confiscate your guns, and appoint justices who will wipe away your Second Amendment and other constitutional freedoms.” <\/p>\n

Cooper noted that Trump’s support of the Second Amendment only really seemed to apply to people who support him.<\/p>\n

“Now, he supports the Second Amendment \u2013 just not all the time, depending on who\u2019s carrying the gun and who gets killed,” Cooper said. “Alex Pretti was apparently not his kind of gun owner.”<\/p>\n

The president’s Border Patrol Commander-at-Large, Gregory Bovino, who is reported to be withdrawing from Minneapolis<\/a>, told CNN’s Dana Bash that the Second Amendment is valid up until it disrupts his agents. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe respect that Second Amendment right, but those rights don\u2019t count when you riot and assault, delay, obstruct and impede law enforcement officers and, most especially, when you mean to do that beforehand,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\"Protesters<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Protesters carry rifles near the steps of the State Capitol building in Lansing, Michigan., on April 15, 2020 during a protest over Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s orders to keep people at home and businesses locked during the coronavirus outbreak (Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)<\/p>\n

Stewart expressed sarcastic shock that MAGA loyalists would even abandon their defense of the Second Amendment before turning on Trump. <\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t shocked when you guys gave up the First Amendment, and I wasn\u2019t shocked when you gave up the Fourth Amendment, and the 10th Amendment, and the 14th Amendment at Trump\u2019s behest, but the Second?\u201d Stewart asked rhetorically. \u201cIsn\u2019t that kind of the load-bearing law of the \u2018Don\u2019t Tread on Me\u2019 flag? Your snake\u2019s down to a newt \u2026 C\u2019mon, guns are your whole personality.\u201d<\/p>\n

After joking about the apparent hypocrisy from MAGA supporters, Stewart offered a more serious critique of the administration’s blatant attempts to convince the American public not to trust their own eyes and ears. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo add insult to injury is the denial of the reality that we all witnessed. They\u2019re lying. We saw it. And that\u2019s how brazen they lie when they know we\u2019ve seen the truth. That\u2019s how they lie when they know we know. Imagine how they lie when there\u2019s no evidence to contradict them,” Stewart said.<\/p>\n

“And maybe, that more than anything, explains why Alex Pretti really was a threat; because he was brandishing a weapon: a handheld, aluminum 1080p 60fps weapon of mass illumination. Because there is nothing more dangerous to a regime predicated on lies than witnesses who capture the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-393909","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}