Heath Haussamen
I’ve not been surprised to see so many MAGA cultists cheer while the villain they put in the White House has shredded our right to protest, and with it the First Amendment.
Watching the federal government tear up the Second Amendment, though, is wild. But it can become a moment of inflection.
A U.S. Border Patrol agent and other federal thugs executed a U.S. citizen on Saturday in Minneapolis. Alex Pretti, 37, was lawfully filming agents. He also had a permit and was lawfully carrying a concealed handgun, according to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara.
As The New York Times reported:
“Video footage shows Mr. Pretti stepping between a woman and an agent who is pepper spraying her. Other agents then pepper spray Mr. Pretti, who is holding a phone in one hand and nothing in the other, and pull him to the ground.
“His concealed weapon was found only after he was restrained on the sidewalk, the videos show. It appears to have been taken from him before the agents opened fire.”
They took his gun. Then they shot him.
Facts vs. lies
Don’t trust The Times? How about the Washington Post, or Wall Street Journal, which came to the same conclusion? Or you can watch the videos for yourself. You can clearly see an agent walk away with Pretti’s firearm before ten shots ring out.
That’s an eight-year veteran of the Border Patrol shooting an unarmed man in the back while he’s kneeling on the ground. This isn’t a case of insufficient training.
The evil architect of all of this, Stephen Miller, immediately took to Twitter to manipulate the narrative. He called Pretti a “domestic terrorist” and dishonestly claimed he “tried to assassinate federal law enforcement.” Because Miller is a villain.
The Trump Administration’s goon squad, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, tweeted that an agent “fired defensive shots” at a man who “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.”
Because the people who run that agency are liars, and villains too.
An assault on the Second Amendment
The dictator, Donald Trump, posted an alleged photo of Pretti’s firearm on Truth Social and wrote, “This is the gunman’s gun, loaded (with two additional full magazines!), and ready to go – What is that all about? Where are the local Police? Why weren’t they allowed to protect ICE Officers? The Mayor and the Governor called them off?”
Trump is trying to undermine confidence in local police and undercut the Second Amendment. Frankly, it’s none of the government’s fucking business why an American citizen was lawfully carrying a firearm.
“We have a right to purchase, carry, and use firearms whether it is for hunting, recreation, or personal safety.” That’s what N.M. state Rep. Harlan Vincent, R-Ruidoso Downs, states on his campaign website.
Vincent is correct. I join him in being a fervent defender of the Second Amendment.
But the Second Amendment no longer serves Trump’s interests now that he controls the federal government’s arsenal. Because Trump is a villain.
Dictators will eventually try to take all our rights — those the ideological left tends to be most passionate about, like free speech, and those the ideological right defends most tenaciously, like the right to bear arms.
Big promises
Pretti’s execution is tyranny. Republicans wouldn’t tolerate it if a Democrat was president.
I want to speak to the Republicans who read my writing: So many of you join Vincent in declaring that defense of the Second Amendment is one of your core values.
“I will always protect our constitutionally protected rights and believe that the Second Amendment is absolute,” state Rep. Alan Martinez, R-Rio Rancho, states on his campaign website.
State Rep. Rebecca Dow, R-Truth or Consequences, says gun ownership is “our God-given right” on her website. State Sen. Crystal Brantley, R-Elephant Butte, pointed out last year that the Second Amendment gives us rights that, in its own words, “shall not be infringed.”
State Rep. John Block, R-Alamogordo, tweeted last year that we must “fight” to keep our Second Amendment rights. And state Sen. Nicole Tobiassen, R-Albuquerque, states on her website that she will “will never allow this fundamental right to keep and bear arms to be taken away from you.”
Tyranny
Our tyrannical federal government took that right from Alex Pretti. He was an intensive care nurse at a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital who was quick to jump in and help his neighbors.
Pretti’s father said his son “loved this country, but he hated what people were doing to it.” So he exercised his constitutional rights to try to change things.
Our tyrannical federal government warned us, after it murdered Renee Good earlier this month, against continuing to protest and film what agents are doing in Minneapolis.
“Have y’all not learned from the past couple of days?” That’s what a federal agent asked a woman in Minnesota who was filming him shortly after Good died. Then he grabbed her phone.
Then, on Saturday, another execution.
You know this is wrong
So many Trump supporters are quick to respond to these incidents by saying protesters should stay home and out of federal agents’ paths.
But deep down, I believe many of you know this is wrong. Not all of you are like the villains who are destroying your party and our country.
I’m looking at those of you I just mentioned and the rest of your Republican colleagues.
I see you all working alongside my spouse in the N.M. Legislature. I see you defending children and wanting to keep people safe. I see you standing up for business owners and trying to grow our economy.
And I see you working at a state level to defend our Second Amendment rights.
Defend the republic
This is the moment when you decide if you really care about the Second Amendment. If it doesn’t exist for someone who’s on the opposite end of the political spectrum, it doesn’t exist, period.
“Perhaps the most challenging part about the rights to speak and bear arms is that they apply to all of us, or they’re at risk for everyone,” I wrote in 2016 in defense of the First and Second amendments.
This is a critical moment in our nation’s history. I believe many of you know what happened on Saturday is wrong. We need you to speak out.
Use your First Amendment rights, while they still exist, to stand up for the Second Amendment and the people it’s designed to protect. Please.
Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican, did just that on Sunday. “Enough…it’s not acceptable for American citizens to be killed by federal agents for exercising their God-given and constitutional rights to protest their government,” he said.
At worst, Scott said, the situation in Minneapolis is “a deliberate federal intimidation and incitement of American citizens that’s resulting in the murder of Americans.” He called on Trump to “pause these operations” and de-escalate the situation.
If Trump won’t, Scott said, “Congress and the Courts must step up to restore constitutionality.”
We need more of you to speak out. If men and women across the political spectrum don’t defend this republic from fascism, we’re going to lose it. New Mexico Republicans, please help us.
A poignant request … I join you.
Thank you.
You have never known me to not
have words. Usually, many of them. At this point, I have none.
That is a totally understandable reaction. It’s that bad.
You know, if the 2nd amendment issue is the one that would turn Republicans against Trump and his thugs, I’d be surprised, because they seem to accept almost anything. But I certainly would welcome it because I guess I agree that the only way out of this nightmare is for Congress to “… step up to restore constitutionality”.
Let’s see what happens next.
Thank you Heath. Completely agree. This is our time to really step up.
Thanks.
From several videos, it is clear that he attacked no one, that he was not reaching for or brandishing, or had drawn his firearm, & that he was not a threat to anyone. One of the agents shouted, “GUN!” , one removed his pistol from his holster & took it several feet away & the shooting started almost immediately after that. Once—again—we are faced with the possibility (or even the probability) that government agents panicked & shot before thinking through the situation. Some situations in law enforcement may need rapid, almost reflex responses, but this surely was not one of them!
Alex Pretti was a fool to come to an already powder-keg situation like this with a gun—of that there is no doubt, but such foolishness that does not involve directly threatening agents is not a capital crime. Nonetheless, he was given a death sentence by agents who were hasty, or poorly-trained, or panicked, or over-stressed. Agents with even a modicum of common sense would have known not to shoot & a protester with even a modicum of common sense would have known not to bring a gun. The combination of errors, however they went down was both tragic & preventable. The attempts at media manipulation by DHS, FBI, & others are execrable.
Thank you, Karen.
Our first amendment is under fire here in Las Cruces as well. Since filming open, public, local government meetings starting in October 2025, I have experienced: 5 batteries, 3 assaults, one night in jail, stolen money by the jail, an attempt to to frame me for conduct by legeslative leadership at a local town hall, unlawfully trespassed from all county properties, and unlawfully trespassed by the NAACP during the MLK brunch last week. All for FILMING. I have no history of misconduct, disrespectful behavior or protest/interruptions of any kind here in Las Cruces or any other government facility or open meeting for that matter.
The local government here in Las Cruces is so scared of what will be exposed by filming and records requests, that they have turned to violence and unlawful behavior. Not caught on film from the BOCC meeting: I was slammed to the ground on my face after a non-violent and no-resist apprehension.
Caught on my camera: Peter Goodman telling Sheriff Steward “these guys (BOCC) messed up” and Sheriff Steward telling him “I know”. Our first amendment is far more important than the second amendment. I don’t own a gun or know how to shoot, but I know how to film a government transparency failure when I see one. I also understand that right to film is under attack from Washington DC to Dona Ana County.
This is why I begged the Sheriff and her crew not to shoot me in the face as I was kissing the floor of the Government Center 2 weeks ago.
A horrible shooting. Certainly a murder, but not a justification of the 2nd amendment.
1. Foolish to bring a gun to an ICE protest.
2. More guns equal more deaths.
Thanks for weighing in.