We must fight for principles instead of sides

PUBLISHED: January 27, 2026 | www.baltimoresun.com

Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension officers stand on the scene where Alex Pretti was fatally shot by a U.S. Border Patrol officer in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

As I read the commentary across social media, legacy media and the broader public discourse surrounding the latest deadly shooting in Minnesota, I see something deeper than disagreement over facts or law. I see a nation struggling to reconcile rights, authority, fear and accountability in moments when events move faster than judgment.

Let’s begin with the Constitution and the Second Amendment. The right to bear arms is not granted by government; it is recognized as pre-existing. Its historical purpose includes guarding against tyranny. But that truth does not cancel another: Constitutional rights were never meant to suspend moral responsibility or situational wisdom. The founders understood both human dignity and human fallibility. Rights without restraint were never the design.

Nor is it sufficient to dismiss what happened in Minneapolis as a simple case of “bad judgment.” That framing flattens the facts and avoids the harder truth. By multiple credible accounts, Alex Pretti did not attend a protest or seek to interfere with an ICE operation. He stepped onto the streets of his own neighborhood after hearing alerts that federal agents were present, streets where many lawful gun owners carry daily.

What he encountered matters.

He witnessed a woman who was not the target of the operation being forcefully shoved, pepper-sprayed at close range and left on the street. Any honest observer must concede that this moment reflected a breakdown of proportionality and control. Pretti’s instinct to move toward someone being assaulted is not radical; it is human. He did not initiate violence. He was drawn into chaos already unfolding.

In the heat of the moment, Pretti failed to fully appreciate the added danger of being armed in such a volatile situation. His reaction was tragically flawed even as he acted humanely to help someone being harmed. That tension matters. It neither absolves his actions nor erases his humanity.

This is where slogans fail.

The First Amendment protects peaceful assembly, not riots, assaults or obstruction. That distinction matters. But so does another truth: Armed federal operations in residential neighborhoods carry a heightened duty of restraint. Authority is not measured by force alone but by discipline under pressure. When force escalates unnecessarily or bystanders are treated as threats, legitimacy erodes regardless of legality.

And here is the uncomfortable reality: Two things can be true at once.

ICE agents operate in dangerous, fast-moving conditions and deserve to return home safely. And when non-criminal citizens are killed during those operations, it is not “noise.” It is a grave failure demanding scrutiny, not reflexive defense or instant condemnation.

This brings us to the double standard.

When Kyle Rittenhouse carried a firearm into a volatile protest, many on the right insisted intent, context and escalation mattered. They demanded nuance before judgment. Yet some of those same voices now abandon that standard when the armed citizen is Alex Pretti, treating possession alone as proof of guilt or deserved death.

Consistency matters. Moral clarity requires it.

If Rittenhouse’s actions merited careful analysis, Pretti’s deserve the same intellectual honesty. Otherwise, we are not defending principles; we are defending sides.

This moment calls for humility, restraint and leadership that lowers the temperature. That duty does not rest with the president alone. The governor of Minnesota and the mayor of Minneapolis must also choose language that calms rather than provokes, clarifies rather than polarizes and de-escalates rather than postures. Tragedy turned into theater only deepens mistrust.

Federal, state and local authorities must work together to reduce these flashpoints, not compound them. Citizens, too, must resist turning every tragedy into an ideological battlefield.

We do not need heroes and villains in every crisis.

We need truth.

We need accountability.

And above all, we need the wisdom to remember that a republic survives not by force alone, but by legitimacy, restraint and a shared commitment to human dignity even when fear and anger tempt us otherwise.

Armstrong Williams (www.armstrongwilliams.com; @arightside) is a political analyst, syndicated columnist and owner of the broadcasting company, Howard Stirk Holdings. He is also part owner of The Baltimore Sun.

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