Could Administration Response to Pretti Shooting Hurt GOP in Midterms?

The midterms are going to be close. Historically, the president’s party loses ground in the midterms, and with the margins so thin in the House, that’s the last thing President Trump and the Republican Party need.

It’s the last thing the Second Amendment needs, also, because while Trump is unlikely to sign any gun control into law, there are still a lot of federal measures that need to be undone. That’s not going to happen if Democrats take one or both chambers later this year.

So turnout is going to be important, but in the wake of the administration’s response to the Pretti shooting, a lot of gun rights advocates aren’t enthused with the idea of traipsing out of their house in November.

Second Amendment advocates are warning Republicans they could face losses in competitive races after President Donald Trump said protester Alex Pretti “should not have been carrying a gun,” despite Pretti being legally armed at the time of his death.

Trump’s remarks following Pretti’s killing on Jan. 24 by federal agents in Minneapolis have angered gun-rights activists, some of whom are threatening to stay home in November’s midterms.

“Trump has got to correct his statements now,” one Second Amendment advocate told Politico.

“Second Amendment advocates are furious, and they will not come out and vote. He can’t correct it three months before the election,” they said.

“I don’t like that he had a gun, I don’t like that he had two fully loaded magazines, that’s a lot of bad stuff,” Trump said last week in Iowa, referring to Pretti. 

Many gun groups are downplaying the president’s remarks, viewing them as a temporary bump rather than a serious threat to the armed-rights movement.

“I’m hoping it’s just the president speaking out of turn, as opposed to a thoughtful change in policy,” Bryan Strawser, chairman of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, told The New York Times.

“President Trump has a tendency to just say what’s on his mind,” he said.

I tend to agree with Stawser about Trump speaking off-the-cuff. Like a lot of us, he settles down when he’s had a moment to think about things, but he’s prone to say stuff before that happens, which creates some issues in cases like this.

However, that doesn’t actually help when not just Trump, but others in the administration, claim you can’t just take a gun to a protest or suggest the presence of spare magazines is evidence of nefarious intent.

I’m not saying that Pretti was just some innocent dove caught at the wrong place at the wrong time, but having a gun and magazines isn’t evidence that he wasn’t those things, and pretending like that’s the case sounds an awful lot like the radical anti-gun left who seem to think every lawful gun owner is a mass shooter in the making.

It’s just not productive in the least, and a lot of people take it personally. 

Gun owners came out in droves for Trump. For the most part, our support was rewarded to some degree, even if not quite to the left we hoped. Most are largely willing to do so again, but not if Trump is going to act as support for the Second Amendment hinges on political allegiance or something. That’s not how rights work.

On the other hand, we also know that the other side has no real respect for the right to keep and bear arms, despite the rhetoric from them these days. They’ll still step in and take our rights at the first opportunity, to say nothing of all the other things these same politicians will want to enact should they get the chance.

Many who might still feel the sting from Trump and company’s comments will likely decide to turnout regardless, if for no other reason than the alternative is far worse.

Still, it behooves Trump and his administration to address the damage and to do it quickly. 

Editor’s Note: The mainstream media continues to lie about gun owners and the Second Amendment. 

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