Somewhere along the line I shared that I refreshed my CCW training during COVID.
My instructor had some sage advice. Basically, she had this to say (I am paraphrasing):
If you happen to be legally carrying and someone invites you to a protest, an act of civil disobedience or a riot; run the opposite direction.
The gist of this was in the wake of the George Floyd protests and the Kyle Rittenhouse shootings your CCW permit isn't a superpower against kryptonite circumstances. A perfectly innocent legal carry situation is not a shield against an overzealous prosecutor. Mounting a successful defense can drain your financial resources. Worse case? Worse case is always worse. Use your imagination.
Anyway, her words were good advice. Prescient too.
Nevertheless, what happened in Minneapolis shows that ICE will treat the
mere presence of a legal firearm as justification for lethal force.
Carrying a gun is not a crime, yet it was readily used as irrefutable
proof of dangerous intent. And now that Alex Pretti is dead and unable
to contest that narrative; that’s the narrative.
From the president on down the chain of command the instant narrative is this:
Pretti was obviously a domestic terrorist and a would-be assassin. Consequently, he deserved to die. This was a good shoot.
The practical upshot of this is if you are interdicted by the Federales while carrying - even legally - masked paramilitary forces without visible personal identification can and will kill you on the spot. With the support of our government.
Judge.
Jury.
And executioner.
At this point there isn't much you can do about it; you're dead.
Because our government has declared you guilty beforehand.
Am I willing to be wrong about all of the foregoing? You bet I am. Yet the president has expressed a desire to impose martial law across the land. And he usually gets around to trying to do everything he says he wants to do. I'd also bet he'll continue to use his shadowy veiled paramilitary forces to terrorize a small blue enclave in Minnesota with only an estimated 130,000 undocumented migrants to provoke unrest.
It's rather quiet where I live; not that counts for anything in a world where the Constitution counts for nothing....
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As a former state certified instructor when CC was relatively new, i had honor of working with Saukville Police Chief Bill Maloy, one of the states longest tenured hunter Ed, fire arms and safety instructors and yes, we’re we’re a state certified course for CC. We too, would parrot that advise along with when you’re carrying, the rules change as does the responsibility and consequences. In this case, simple common sense should have been Mr. Pretti guide, but he CHOSE not to apply such. Having the right to do something doesn’t mean one should. The minute you decide to go heels into such a already volatile situation, your common sense was void. Intent doesn’t matter but whether you’re on the proactive “hero”mind set or reactive , “ I’m going to stop this”mindset, doesn’t matter. You pull your piece, the chances of meeting your maker is likely.
ReplyDeleteI've seen my fill of stop-action video of the encounter between Pretti and ICE and I naver saw him draw or brandish his gun. With my own eyes I saw ICE disarm him and then shoot him ten times in the back. That looks like abad shoot. Looks like tomorrow ICE has a new sheriff in town. I'd like to see Homan put some fear of god professionalism in his ranks! Agree Pretti showed poor judgement but that doesn't call for an extrajudicial death sentence.
ReplyDeleteAs the blog owner and author I have some observations.
ReplyDeleteAttending a rally or demonstration while armed (even legally) is not a good idea. I wouldn’t do it. Nevertheless, CCW laws vary by state.
Under Minnesota law, a person with a valid Minnesota Permit to Carry can generally carry a firearm — concealed or openly — in public spaces, including a protest or rally. That means legally carrying a firearm at a demonstration or protest is not per se illegal under Minnesota statutes if you have the proper permit and are otherwise law-abiding.
Complicating this is we do not know the circumstances of how the deceased found himself in this situation. Did he stumble across it randomly while out for coffee on a day off? Or did he seek it out? We do not know which is why an independent investigation must be held to ascertain the facts. We’ll have to see if that happens.
Of concern to me are comments like those coming from FBI director Patel - “You cannot bring a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want. It’s that simple. You don’t have a right to break the law.”
Bill Essayli, Trump-appointed U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, tells us this: “If you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you.”
Who’s right? MN law, the constitution or the administration?
What if I travel 40 minutes to the nearest big city with my legally-carried 9mm and am stopped at a previously unannounced ICE roadblock. Sure, I’ll disclose; but what is to prevent a masked, unidentified, ICE agent from jumping to conclusions and manhandling me or worse?
My point is ICE agents are poorly trained and even more poorly led. These agents bust down doors and break into cars to sweep-up people leaving houses wide open and vehicles left running unattended in intersections. They are trained more to instill fear and confusion than shoot/don’t shoot. Absolutely no training in teamwork or deescalation tactics. 47 days in insufficient.
Bottom line is this is a haphazardly-assembled paramilitary organization that operates without identification and under some misguided cloak of immunity from the federal government. Furthermore, in open contempt for more sections of the constitution than I can count.
It is a shitshow and I fear that unless Border Czar Tom Homan scares these wannabe mall cop warriors straight more innocent US citizens care going to be summarily executed.