Since the death of Minneapolis VA nurse Alex Pretti, social media has erupted with comparisons of Pretti with Kyle Rittenhouse, a gun rights activist who was acquitted in 2021 after fatally shooting two people during the unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2020.
The issue of carrying a gun in public has become central to the question of accountability surrounding the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents. The federal government's line that Pretti was shot for carrying a licensed firearm has irked many gun rights advocates. It has even prompted the National Rifle Association (NRA) to react.
The Kyle Rittenhouse case has come up in discussion due to the apparent similarities with Alex Pretti's killing. Rittenhouse stormed into the protests in Kenosha with an AR–15–style semi-automatic rifle (Smith & Wesson M&P 15) and fatally shot two. A section of social media has brought up the Trump supporters' reaction to the Kenosha shooting and compared it with their reaction to the Minneapolis incident.
Many have noted that while the MAGA camp spoke about upholding gun rights during the Rittenhouse incident, now, they have brandished Alex Pretti as a "domestic terrorist."
{{/usCountry}}Many have noted that while the MAGA camp spoke about upholding gun rights during the Rittenhouse incident, now, they have brandished Alex Pretti as a "domestic terrorist."
{{/usCountry}}While Rittenhouse did not previously react to the comparisons, despite making his stance on the 2nd Amendment clear in the aftermath of Alex Pretti's death, he finally offered his take on it in a X post on Monday.
"The same people wanting to silence me are now begging me to comment," Rittenhouse said. "My comment: Communists are gay. And anti-2A people are gay. Biden's failed open borders policies created this ENTIRE mess."
Kyle Rittenhouse's Reaction To Alex Pretti's Shooting
Kyle Rittenhouse became quite active on social media after the first official reaction to the shooting of Alex Pretti on January 24. He hit out at the federal administration for what he deemed to be an apparent violation of the Second Amendment Rights.
Also read: Kyle Rittenhouse's posts on Alex Pretti shooting, protests spark outrage; ‘come to Minneapolis’
Rittenhouse first shared an Instagram story talking about ‘liberating Minneapolis’. He then posted a sarcastic 'How To Stay Alive' hack, noting: ‘do not pull guns on federal agents.’ In fact, the 23-year-old has been regularly reacting to the federal immigration raids in Minneapolis, which included posting an AI-generated image of him carrying firearms in Minneapolis.
Notably, though the DHS claims that Alex Pretti tried to pull a gun on the ICE agents, at no point in the eyewitness videos is the gun seen in his hand.