Minnesota allows individuals with a permit to carry a gun in public, concealed or not, and there is no state law against having a gun while at a demonstration. That contradicts FBI Director Kash Patel’s claim suggesting that “you cannot bring” a loaded firearm “to any sort of protest” in the state.
There are more than a dozen U.S. states with laws prohibiting the open or concealed carry of firearms at a protest or similar event. Minnesota is not one of them.
“This is completely incorrect on Minnesota law,” the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, a gun rights advocacy group, said in a social media post responding to Patel’s remarks. “There is no prohibition on a permit holder carrying a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines at a protest or rally in Minnesota.”
Patel had made his claim during a Jan. 25 interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” He was responding to Maria Bartiromo, the host of the show, who asked him what he would say to people “outraged” by Border Patrol agents shooting and killing Alex Pretti during a Jan. 24 demonstration against federal immigration agents in Minneapolis.
“As Kristi said, you cannot bring a firearm loaded with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want,” Patel said, referring to Kristi Noem, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. “It’s that simple.”
He may have been referring to comments that Noem made in a Jan. 24 press conference about the killing of Pretti – only she didn’t say that protesters “cannot” carry guns in Minnesota.
Instead, Noem said, “I don’t know of any peaceful protester that shows up with a gun and ammunition rather than a sign.” She accused Pretti – who state officials said had a permit for the handgun he had on him – of being in Minneapolis “to perpetuate violence” rather than “peacefully protest.” (Patel had accurately referred to Noem’s comments questioning Pretti’s motivations earlier in his Fox News interview.)
But federal officials have provided no evidence that Pretti “arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement,” as Noem also said in her press conference.
As we’ve written, videos recorded by bystanders in Minneapolis do not show Pretti threatening law enforcement officials with the gun or removing it from his waistband during the altercation with immigration officers that led to his death. As other news outlets also reported, it appears from the video available so far that an officer removes a gun from Pretti’s waistband prior to Pretti being shot.
What’s more, Patel was wrong to suggest that protesters in Minnesota aren’t allowed to carry firearms in the first place.
Minnesota is not one of the 16 states that has enacted a law prohibiting concealed or open carry at demonstrations, protests or licensed public gatherings, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Under Minnesota law, a permit is required to carry a gun in public, and the gun doesn’t need to be concealed, according to the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said that the available video evidence suggests that Pretti’s actions were legal.
“It appears that he was present, exercising his First Amendment rights to record law enforcement activity, and also exercising his Second Amendment rights to lawfully be armed in a public space in the city,” O’Hara said in a Jan. 25 interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“There’s no prohibition in Minnesota statute that says you can’t carry a firearm at a protest,” Rob Doar, president of the Minnesota Gun Owners Law Center, told WCCO, the CBS News affiliate in Minnesota, in an interview.
We asked the FBI about Patel’s claim, but a spokesperson declined to comment.
Patel would later argue in a Jan. 26 interview on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program that bringing a gun to a protest that turns violent is ill-advised, even if it is allowed.
“It’s not smart to go out there with a fully loaded weapon. We’re just saying be careful and be reasonable,” Patel said, describing a “volatile” situation in Minnesota. “If you have a right to a permit for a firearm, that’s OK. But you cannot incite violence and you cannot break the law — and attack federal law enforcement officers.”
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