Kyle Rittenhouse rejects Alex Pretti comparison in 2nd Amendment debate
Kyle Rittenhouse, who was acquitted of murder charges in 2021 after fatally shooting two people and wounding a third during a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, is rejecting comparisons to 37-year-old Alex Pretti who was fatally shot by federal immigration officers on Saturday.
The Department of Homeland Security states that Pretti was shot after he "approached" Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, according to the Associated Press — a characterization that contradicts video footage of the event.
Officials did not specify if Pretti brandished the gun. In bystander footage that was released after the shooting, Pretti is shown with a phone in his hand, but none appear to show a visible weapon.
Pretti, a nurse with no criminal record, held a permit to carry a concealed handgun in Minnesota, the Associated Press reported.
Rittenhouse has become a flashpoint in the conversation surrounding the ICE shooting.
Critics have pointed to the two cases to argue there is a hypocrisy around the Second Amendment for who is permitted to exercise self-defense.
Rittenhouse addressed the comparison on X with a series of combative posts containing anti-LGBTQ slurs, claiming that "Biden's failed borders policies created this ENTIRE mess."
He also took aim at House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries who gave a critique of the differing public reactions to Rittenhouse and Pretti in a Facebook post .
"Armed vigilante kills two civilians in Wisconsin and is called a hero by Trump and Far-Right extremists. Law-abiding VA nurse is killed by masked thugs in Minnesota and they label him a domestic terrorist," Jeffries said. "These are sick people."
Rittenhouse responded by accusing Jeffires on X of using his name for "rage bait" and to "stoke the flames."
This is not the first time this month Rittenhouse has weighed in on fatal shootings involving federal agents.
In early January, Rittenhouse also spoke out about the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, during an interview for "The Caitlin Sinclair Show," saying that he relates to what the agent has gone through in terms of being "doxed."
"Agent [Jonathan] Ross, his identity has already been put out there publicly. He's been doxed. His family has been forced to go into hiding. Very similar to what happened to me — immediately being doxed," he said according to Newsweek . "My home address being put out there, calls for death threats, bounties put out on him. Similar to me, I've had bounties put out against me."
Rittenhouse added that Ross "defended himself" against Good, stating that Good was there to "block and impede with" ICE agents from completing duties.
"Agent Ross did what he had to do to stay alive, and he's being villainized by the left for defending himself because the left is trying to push a narrative that we are the side of violence," he said.
When Rittenhouse was asked what he would have done if he had been in Ross' shoes, he said he would have shot Good if it meant saving his life, Newsweek reported.
"If somebody is coming at me with a moving vehicle, I'm going to do what I need to do to stay alive," Rittenhouse said. "That is a two tone weapon coming at you. That is something that can cause great bodily injury or death, just as anybody with half a brain cell would do."
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