The headline above doesn't refer to the shooting of Alex Pretti, at least not directly. It's about what's happening in Minneapolis, Minnesota now, and it's absolutely terrifying to the gun control lobby.
Firearm instructors say business is booming over the past few weeks, even before Pretti's death. David Taylor, CEO of Stock & Barrel Gun Clubs, tells NBC News that the club's concealed carry classes generally bring in "hundreds" of people, but interest has grown fourfold in just the past two weeks.
That does not appear to be an anomaly. Five firearm instructors in the Minneapolis area told NBC News they have seen a similar trend. The sudden interest, they say, is a reflection of the fear and uneasiness that has gripped the region amid the ongoing turmoil in the streets.
“It’s very typical whenever there is a black swan incident,” Taylor said, using a term for unexpected events with far-reaching consequences.
“People tend to panic and want to run out to get their permits,” he added.
R. Steven Rogers, who owns a private security company in Minneapolis and offers firearm training on the side, said he has received a burst of calls from people inquiring about his permit-to-carry classes.
“Most are people afraid of ICE,” Rogers said, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “There are some who are afraid of the generalized violence.”
People afraid of ICE aren't any more likely to go commit an act of violence against individual agents than gun owners who are afraid of the ATF. What both groups are really afraid of is government overreach, or government tyranny if you prefer.
Are all of these new gun owners commie revolutionaries? No. As Rogers says, some of them are afraid that the city could once again explode into violence as it did after the death of George Floyd in 2020. They're buying firearms and seeking their concealed carry licenses for self-defense.
Now, I'm sure that there are some new gun owners in the Twin Cities who have decided to start exercising their Second Amendment rights because of their fear or even anger towards DHS and the Trump administration. This may rub some readers the wrong way, but so what? Didn't we see the same thing on the right when Barack Obama was president, and to a lesser degree when Joe Biden was taking his daily naps in the Oval Office?
In my recent return to X, I've had several people suggest to me that we should somehow be disarming or preventing those on the left from buyng a gun. These people aren't out to protect themselves, they've argued. They're out to go after us.
Of course, the Constitution doesn't work that way. A right of the people belongs to the people, even those we disagree with, and you can't defend the Constitution or the Bill of Rights by setting it on fire before the other side does.
So what does this have to do with the inevitable failure of the gun-banners among us? It demonstrates that our appreciation for the right to keep and bear arms is present across the political spectrum, even if its been largely lying dormant for decades on the left. When things get scary out there, Americans of all stripes cling to their guns and their right to keep and carry them, including some folks who may have thought they believed in gun control.
The gun control lobby is quietly panicking, and it's playing out in a number of ways. Some are suddenly playing as Second Amendment supporters who are incensed that a concealed carry permit holder was shot and killed by agents of the federal government, while others are begging their fellow progressives not to purchase a gun. Kaivan Shroff, who used to be a part of Everytown for Gun Safety's team of anti-2A attorneys, has a column at the Daily Beast imploring his fellow lefties to stay disarmed for their safety.
A noticeable shift is underway on the American left. Progressives who once spoke confidently and consistently about the dangers posed by guns are now, increasingly, buying firearms themselves.
“If more guns made us safer, we’d be the safest country on Earth. It doesn’t work that way,” quipped then-rising star presidential contender Pete Buttigieg in 2020. Fast forward to 2025, where the Liberal Gun Club, a group that trains and educates liberals about guns in over 30 states, reported seeing over 60% membership growth in the year following Trump’s return to office. Gun shops and community defense groups report growing interest from people who until recently would have dismissed personal gun ownership as unnecessary or even reckless.
Many cite concerns with the openly authoritarian Trump administration, rising political violence and the sense that institutions meant to protect are either weakened or being repurposed against them. What was once framed as an outdated cultural obsession of the right is now being reconsidered, quietly but seriously, as a form of insurance.
The floodgates of liberal gun ownership haven't opened yet, but levels of support for the Second Amendment are rising enough that the gun control lobby can no longer look away or bury their collective heads in the sand. That's why Everytown is now claiming to reach "gun safety" classes. It's why Giffords is promoting a group of self-proclaimed gun owners in support of "common sense" measures that obliterate their right to bear arms. And its why Shroff is saying stuff like this:
In moments of fear, arming oneself can feel like clarity. It can feel like doing something concrete in the face of power that appears unaccountable.
But as a former member of the litigation team at the leading gun violence prevention non-profit Everytown for Gun Safety, I can also tell you it is a serious mistake—and an escalation that overwhelmingly favors the state.
Federal agents operate with numbers, armor, intelligence and institutional protection, though not the absolute immunity Vice President J.D. Vance has claimed. A privately owned firearm does not restrain agency behavior or create leverage over federal policy. What it reliably does is transform already volatile situations into minefields where every movement is interpreted through the lens of lethality. This should not be the case, but it is our present reality.
This is just another version of Joe Biden's argument that the government has F-16s while civilians have AR-15s, or Eric Swalwell's assertion that a tyrannical federal government would just nuke its citizens, so why bother getting a gun as a check on tyranny?
The difference is that Shroff is making this argument to people who, just a short time ago, agreed with Biden and Swalwell. And on issues outside of gun control, that likely remains the case. Will these sudden gun rights supporters become single issue voters? I highly doubt it, at least in most cases and in the short term. But politics is downstream from culture, and as it turns out even the culture on the left can suddenly warm to gun ownership when they feel like their liberty is at stake. So long as that strand of freedom remains woven in our cultural DNA as Americans, the gun control lobby can never declare victory in their war on our Second Amendment rights, even if they can win some battles.
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