A GOP clash over right to carry

WASHINGTON — While Republicans split over Second Amendment protections after the fatal Saturday shooting of a citizen by federal immigration officers, Democrats are increasingly uniting to call for the ouster of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

And on Tuesday, one Republican — retiring Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina — called for Noem to step down.

A growing faction of congressional Republicans are distancing themselves from President Donald Trump’s claim Tuesday that the shooting victim, Alex Pretti, should not have been carrying a firearm during an immigration crackdown protest in Minneapolis.

“You can’t walk in with guns. You just can’t,” Trump said. “It’s a very unfortunate incident.”

“He had a gun,” he said later Tuesday. “I don’t like that. He had two fully loaded magazines. That’s a lot of bad stuff.”

Noem said in a Saturday news conference that Pretti approached officers with a 9-millimeter semi-automatic handgun, characterizing him as the instigator. But other reports and videos suggested the weapon wasn’t in his hand. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said he was a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry.

‘Shooting themselves in the foot’

Trump’s take clashes with staunch defenders of the Second Amendment, including Republicans in Congress and gun rights organizations that have historically backed his bids for the White House.

Robert J. Spitzer, a political scientist and professor emeritus at the State University of New York at Cortland, whose research has focused on gun control, said in an interview Trump and Republicans are “shooting themselves in the foot” with their right-to-carry messaging.

Spitzer added that, per the Supreme Court’s interpretation, Pretti “did nothing wrong under carry law by having the gun with him — he never pulled it out or displayed it.”

“It’s a pretty major stumble,” he said of Trump’s statements. “It does create a political muddying of the waters. And the gun rights people who have been behind Trump since his first term, here they are feeling like he’s stabbing them in the back.”

On Tuesday, Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., said, “Americans have a constitutional right to bear arms, and the mere possession of a firearm does not represent a threat justifying lethal force.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., posted over the weekend, “Your Second Amendment rights don’t disappear when you exercise your other rights. The Constitution is crystal clear: ‘the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.’”

“Carrying a firearm is not a death sentence, it’s a Constitutionally protected God-given right,” Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said on X Sunday.

Even Kyle Rittenhouse, a gun rights advocate who gained national attention in 2020 for shooting three people at a Wisconsin protest, chimed in: “Carry everywhere. It is your right,” he posted on X Monday.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune also told reporters on Tuesday: “It’s a constitutional right.”

“It’s legal under the laws in the state of Minnesota. Every state has different laws with respect to where and when you can carry,” he said. “My understanding was, perhaps, that he didn’t have an ID. But with that exception, I think he was in compliance with the laws and he has a constitutional right.

“I think there will be more that comes out on that aspect of it too, when the investigation is complete. … I think it’s really important that we have facts.”

Kicking out Kristi

Meanwhile, the shooting has fanned criticism of Noem, including surging impeachment chatter among Democrats, who are increasingly backing a bid to oust Noem.

“The violence unleashed on the American people by the Department of Homeland Security must end forthwith,” Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.; Whip Katherine M. Clark, D-Mass.; and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., said in a statement. “Kristi Noem should be fired immediately, or we will commence impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives.”

Although Noem enjoyed a bipartisan confirmation vote when she was confirmed by the Senate last year, some of the Democratic senators that shepherded her across the finish line are showing signs of buyer’s remorse following the incidents in Minneapolis under her agency’s helm.

“I make a direct appeal to immediately fire Noem,” Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., posted on Tuesday, tagging Trump. Fetterman was one of seven Democrats who voted in favor of her confirmation.

“Americans have died. She is betraying DHS’s core mission and trashing your border security legacy,” he said.

But Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., was less retrospective.

“I’ve got 1,000 votes that I have to cast today and tomorrow,” he said. “I don’t spend time thinking about the ones a year ago. I’m very disappointed in her performance, and I think she’s pulling the administration down and making things much harder for them.”

But Kaine said a Noem resignation would not suffice.

“I don’t want a DHS Secretary Stephen Miller, so that would not be sufficient,” he said.

A measure from Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., to impeach Noem gained 50 new Democratic co-sponsors since Saturday, with more than three-fourths of House Democrats now signed on.

“With me stands 162 House Democrats ready to impeach Secretary Noem, but we need the majority of Congress to open their eyes to her brutality and unconstitutional actions,” Kelly said in a statement. “In clear contempt of the Constitution, she’s prevented Congress from conducting our oversight duties to hold her accountable—but we still have one power to use against her: impeachment.”

Impeaching a Cabinet member is rare: the House impeached former President Joe Biden’s DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in 2024, the first time in 150 years a secretary has been impeached and only the second in history. The Senate later dismissed those charges.

It’s unlikely the resolution will muster the Republican votes necessary to get it through both chambers. But at least two Republican senators, Tillis and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, are calling for Noem to resign.

“I think that what she’s done in Minnesota should be disqualifying, she should be out of a job,” Tillis said of Noem. “I mean really, it’s just amateurish, it’s terrible, it’s making the president look bad on policies that he won on … they’ve got to de-escalate and treat these communities with some respect.”

“I think the president needs to look at who he has in place as a secretary of Homeland Security. I would not support her again, and I think it probably was time for her to step down,” Murkowski said Tuesday in an interview.

Thune and others in GOP leadership have yet to call for Noem’s ouster.

“That’s the president’s judgment call,” Thune said.

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(John T. Bennett, Lia DeGroot and Jacob Fulton contributed to this report.)

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