FBI Director Kash Patel insists he supports the Second Amendment, just not when it is exercised by those protesting the Trump administration.
Patel suggested in a sniffle-filled rant that licensed gun holders should not bring weapons to protests, as Alex Pretti, the Veterans Affairs nurse who was shot dead by a Border Patrol agent, had done over the weekend at a demonstration in Minneapolis.
“What I’m asking people to do on the ground in Minnesota is, why would you bring a firearm in a situation that is so volatile right now, where so many arrests have been made, where so many people are coordinating to attack and expose federal law enforcement officers?” Patel said on Benny Johnson’s show Monday.
He continued through audible sniffles, “That is just not smart. It is just not going to lead to a good scenario. And so we need everybody to tamp down, obviously, on that side.”
Patel, 45, faced heat from gun rights advocates on Sunday after he spoke similarly on Fox News, claiming that Pretti was not legally permitted to carry his concealed, loaded handgun to the protest where he was tackled and disarmed before being gunned down on the street.
“This is completely incorrect on Minnesota law,” fired back the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus in a post on X. “There is no prohibition on a permit holder carrying a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines at a protest or rally in Minnesota.”
The National Rifle Association did not respond to a request for comment about Patel’s latest remarks clashing with the Second Amendment.
It appears Patel is not totally opposed to guns at protests—just ones he disagrees with.
Patel voiced support for Kyle Rittenhouse—the right-wing teen who not only carried a rifle at a Wisconsin protest, but also fatally shot two people with it—in 2020. A court ruled the following year that he acted in self-defense.
Not only did Patel have no issue with Rittenhouse carrying the weapon, but he even said that he would raise money for him to file defamation cases against his critics.
“We’re raising money,” Patel said in 2021, after Rittenhouse was found not guilty. “If you have a case, we will review it for free, and we will cut the check to the lawyer to file your defamation case and get your day in court. And if Kyle Rittenhouse and his team are listening, or your audience is tweeting… We will help Rittenhouse’s defamation cases. We will pay for them by raising money so he can clear his name.”
More recently, Patel offered no criticism of the Virginia Citizens Defense League’s lobby day in Richmond, Virginia, on Jan. 19, which featured hordes of armed protesters. They were protesting Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s plans to pass gun-control legislation.
Some photos from Richmond Virginia yesterday are starting to make it to the internet.
Estimated 100,000 people showed up.
More in the comments. pic.twitter.com/PFGSiUDu9W— Appalachian Liberty (@Liberty_Xtreme) January 20, 2026
Instead, Patel used his appearance on Johnson’s show to reveal that the FBI is supposedly investigating a “coordinated network” that he claims is funding and plotting attacks against federal agents in Minnesota.
Patel said he could not speak to the supposed network, but promised to do so soon. He made no mention of a potential FBI probe into Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who killed Renee Nicole Good this month, or the still-anonymous Border Patrol agent who killed Alex Pretti.
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