What Minneapolis Gun Owners Think of Alex Pretti

Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today

In the same VFW dining hall just north of Minneapolis, two gun owners are worlds apart on the topic of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse shot to death in a scuffle with border patrol agents on Saturday.

“I don’t understand why he had to have a weapon there that day,” said David Manley, an 85-year-old retired pipefitter and lifelong Republican, who said he owns five firearms.

Everything he knows about guns, Manley said, he learned from his father. Going to a protest with a loaded gun is not something his father ever would have advised.

Across the room, another gun owner named Jim Nordlocken, a 73-year-old former Teamster, told us he was so incensed at the killing of Pretti that he considered going downtown to protest for the first time.

“My wife would kill me,” he said, “but I thought about it—to stand up for freedom.”

It used to be a given that Republicans want to expand the right to bear arms while Democrats aspire to curtail it. The killing of Pretti, who had a concealed carry permit, has changed that calculus. In the aftermath of his killing, some of the strongest defenders of Pretti’s Second Amendment rights have been progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who called out Republicans like Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for their “cognitive dissonance” on CNN. Even the National Rifle Association, which usually finds itself siding with Republican administrations, cautioned leaders to wait for a full investigation instead of “making generalizations and demonizing law-abiding citizens.” Trump, meanwhile, said Tuesday, “You can’t have guns. You can’t walk in with guns,” when asked about Pretti’s decision to carry a firearm to a protest.

So what do gun-owning Minnesotans think? Everyone we spoke to was a staunch advocate of the Second Amendment, but that’s about where their agreement stopped. Watch a recap of our day in and out of Minnesota gun ranges, pawn shops, and dining halls.