I learned, from the January 26, 2026, edition of The New York Times, that Republican members of Congress were "split in response to the shooting" of Alex Jeffrey Pretti, who was killed by a federal agent in Minneapolis on January 24th.
I assume that those reading this blog posting will have heard of this killing, and will, probably, have already formed an impression about whether or not it was justified. The circumstances were a bit different from those present when a federal agent killed Renee Good, but in both cases, citizens who believed that they were exercising their rights, as American citizens, were killed by federal immigration agents. I have already commented, in an earlier blog posting, about the killing of Renee Good.
Cited in the January 26th article was Representative Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky. Here is what Massie apparently said, in criticizing what the federal agents dealing with Pretti did:
Carrying a firearm is not a death sentence, it’s a Constitutionally protected God-given right, and if you don’t understand this you have no business in law enforcement or government.
I am not willing to go quite as far as Representative Massie. There is no doubt that American citizens have a Constitutional right to carry a firearm. The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution secures our right to do that - and it's clear. The Second Amendment provides that we have an explicit, Constitutional right "to keep and bear Arms."
Our Seconed Amendment rights, however, are not "God-given." The right to "keep and bear arms" was established by a political choice made at the time that the Bill of Rights was added to our Constitution. God was not directly involved. That right to "keep and bear arms" has been established by human (not divine) action.
We could change that, you know!
Let's not forget that fact!
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