The killing of Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minnesota has led to a rare rebuke of top Trump administration officials by leading 2nd Amendment advocates.

Multiple national gun-rights organizations, as well as a prominent Minnesota gun rights group, have expressed horror at top Trump administration officials’ criticism of Pretti for being armed with a handgun that he had a legal permit to carry.

“The FBI director needs to brush off that thing called the Constitution, because he clearly hasn’t read it,” National Association for Gun Rights President Dudley Brown told POLITICO. “I know of no more crucial place to carry a firearm for self defense than a protest.”

FBI Director Kash Patel said Sunday on Fox News that “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.” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said Saturday that she didn’t “know of any peaceful protester that shows up with a gun and ammunition rather than a sign.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that “any gun owner knows” that carrying a gun raises “the assumption of risk and the risk of force being used against you,” during interactions with law enforcement.

Gun-rights groups rushed to push back on an administration that was breaking with conservative orthodoxy on the right to bear arms in public places.

Several were particularly outraged by Bill Essayli, the acting U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, who posted on X: “If you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you.”

The National Rifle Association, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, posted that Essayli’s remarks were “dangerous and wrong,” and called for a full investigation rather than “making generalizations and demonizing law-abiding citizens.”

Aidan Johnston, the director of federal affairs for Gun Owners of America, called Essayli’s remarks “absolutely unacceptable.”

“Federal prosecutors should know better than to comment on a situation when he didn’t know all the facts, to make a judgment in a case like this, and then also, just to make a blanket statement, threatening gun owners in that way,” Johnston said Monday.

It’s not the first time Trump and the gun lobby have tangled since he returned to office. In September, gun rights advocates were shocked by reports that the administration was looking into a gun ban for transgender Americans. During Trump’s first term, his administration issued a regulation to ban bump stocks, but the Supreme Court ultimately blocked the rule in 2024.

There are still conflicting accounts surrounding Saturday’s shooting — including whether Pretti’s hand at any point during the incident was near his gun. Video verified and analyzed by several media outlets, including the New York Times, show the item Pretti appeared to be holding was a phone he was using to film the scene before he attempted to help a woman who had been pushed to the ground by Border Patrol agents. According to a Washington Post analysis of video footage, federal agents appear to have secured Pretti’s gun moments before an agent shot the 37-year-old ICU nurse, who was also a U.S. citizen.

“We can all see what is on video,” said Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus chair Bryan Strawser, arguing statements from Trump’s officials have not lined up with footage of the event.

Strawser hoped the incident would help Democrats understand the importance of gun ownership.

“If it has helped move the needle and helped individual folks realize that they should be protecting this right, I think that’s a good thing,” he said. “I think the more political-minded part of my brain would say, ‘are they just using this for their own political purposes and this isn’t going to change their position at all?’ I think time will tell as to where that goes.”

California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom — who became a gun owner last year — responded on X to Noem’s remarks: “The Trump administration does not believe in the 2nd Amendment. Good to know.”

Rep. Dave Min (D-Calif.) and former Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska) also used the moment to highlight the right to carry.

“Joining the gun lobby to condemn Bill Essayli was not on my bingo card but here we are,” Min said on X. “Lawfully carrying a firearm is not grounds for being killed.”

Brown argued it was Newsom and Democrats who were being hypocritical, pointing to Newsom’s longtime support for more gun control.

“The irony is thick,” he said.

Jacob Wendler contributed to this report.