Donald Trump seemed to suggest limits to the Second Amendment on Tuesday, but rather than support, the president’s comments inspired snark, sarcasm and accusations of hypocrisy on social media.
Trump told reporters that Alex Pretti, who was gunned down by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday, shouldn’t have brought his registered handgun when he went to document the actions of agents in the city.
“You can’t walk in with guns,” Trump said while boarding Marine One for a flight to Iowa, doubling down when another reporter brought up the Second Amendment, which allows people to carry guns in public.
“You can’t walk in with guns. You can’t do that. It’s just a very unfortunate incident,” he said.
Trump’s slight break from the typical support of the Second Amendment comes a day after FBI Director Kash Patel incorrectly claimed on Fox News that protesters cannot bring loaded firearms to demonstrations.
CNN’s Anderson Cooper has also noted that the president seems to support the Second Amendment depending on “who’s carrying the gun and who gets killed,” and added, “Alex Pretti was apparently not his kind of gun owner.”
The president’s suggestion that the Second Amendment actually has limits comes 10 months after his administration removed an advisory identifying gun violence as a public health issue, and a U.S. Appeals court ruling earlier this month that California’s ban on openly carrying firearms in most parts of the state was unconstitutional.
Many folks on social media pointed out the hypocrisy.