Ever since Alex Pretti was shot and killed by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis, the left has been dinging the Trump administration over comments by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and others that suggested Pretti did something wrong by carrying a concealed firearm while protesting.
“He was exercising his Second Amendment rights,” they’ve proclaimed time and time again… and they’re not wrong. The problem, though, is that they don’t really believe what they’re saying. It’s nothing more than a talking point to them. If they really believed that the Second Amendment protects the right to carry at a protest, they’d be up in arms (rhetorically speaking) over what Maryland is trying to do with its carry laws at the moment.
Maryland filed an opposition to our motion to stay the mandate last night in our lawsuit challenging the state’s public carry bans, saying that despite being subject to a preliminary injunction for over two years (and citing no examples of anything bad happening), carry permit… pic.twitter.com/ComySTsmNu
— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) February 10, 2026
Among the many “gun-free zones” Maryland enacted in response to the Bruen decision in 2022 were bans on carrying at protests and public demonstrations, along with prohibiting lawful carry in establishments where alcohol is served. A district court judge granted an injunction against those particular “sensitive places”, but the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision several weeks ago.
The legal challenges to the Bruen response bill are now heading to the Supreme Court, and the plaintiffs have asked the Fourth Circuit to keep the injunction in place while litigation continues. That’s hardly unusual, and quite often requests like these are granted by the courts. The Ninth Circuit, for instance, allowed the injunction against enforcement of California’s ban on the possession of “large capacity” magazines to remain in place even though it upheld the law in Duncan v. Bonta, and the Oregon courts have kept Measure 114 from being enforced even after an appellate court ruled that it didn’t violate Oregon’s state constitution while the case is pending before the state Supreme Court.
Maryland, though, is urging the Fourth Circuit to keep its mandate in place and allow the state to begin prosecuting concealed carry holders who want to exercise their Second Amendment rights alongside their First Amendment right to protest, as well as those who want to carry in an Applebees or other restaurants that serve alcohol.
Putting aside the question of standing, this Court correctly concluded that “Maryland’s prohibition on carrying guns near public demonstrations is consistent with our national historical tradition of promoting peaceful assemblies, particularly given the interaction between the rights the First and Second Amendments preserve.”
… More importantly, staying this Court’s decision, and thereby interfering with the State’s sovereign prerogative to enforce its duly enacted laws, “clearly inflicts irreparable harm on the State.” That harm is especially clear where, as here, there is an “ongoing and concrete harm” to the State’s “law enforcement and public safety interests.”
Here, the effect of plaintiffs’ motion, if granted, would be to leave in place an injunction against laws designed to prevent gun violence. The risks of allowing firearms at locations serving alcohol and near public demonstrations are obvious. And the risk is not merely of intentional, criminal acts. Accidental shootings, misunderstandings, or arguments can result in serious injury to innocent bystanders when firearms are present, especially if the situation is mixed with alcohol or the emotions that may arise at a demonstration. Indeed, studies show that the presence of weapons increases aggressive behavior and thoughts, meaning that a person in possession of a firearm is more likely to perceive others as hostile and react aggressively to ambiguous situations. Serious risks also flow from the possible loss or theft of a firearm in sensitive places like a crowded bar or in a crowd.
The biggest flaw in the state’s argument is that, despite their hypotheticals and vague references to studies, there hasn’t been any issue with concealed carry licensees lawfully bearing arms at demonstrations on in restaurants where alcohol is served since the injunction was put in place.
In fact, while the state argues that the mere presence of a firearm increases the risk of violent crime, violence has been plunging in Maryland while tens of thousands of residents have obtained a carry permit and have been exercising their Second Amendment right to carry in public.
I have no idea what the Fourth Circuit will do, but I’m with FPC’s Rob Romano in wondering why all those supposedly pro-2A Democrats have suddenly fallen silent while Maryland seeks to criminalize the very act they’ve recently insisted is a part of our Second Amendment rights.
Remember less than a month ago when anti-gunners were pretending to be pro-gun? https://t.co/eBNEzWhWX7
— Rob Romano (@2Aupdates) February 10, 2026
Where’s Gavin Newsom? Why isn’t Brady’s Kris Brown speaking out, or the scores of other anti-gun politicians and activists who were defending Pretti’s actions?
We know why. Those comments weren’t sincere. They were just a way to frame Trump as no friend to gun owners, and putting their own hypocrisy on display was guaranteed to be a risk-free endeavor since they know the media will never call them out for their 2A cosplay.
I’d love to see a Democrat politician who truly understands the importance of our right to keep and bear arms and is willing to fight to preserve and protect it. They used to be fairly common, even if they weren’t a majority. Fifteen years ago a quarter of the Democrats in Congress were “A” rated by the NRA. Now, that percentage is zero. Pro-gun Democrat politicians aren’t just an endangered species these days. They’re essentially extinct. Maybe in the future that will change, but the deafening silence from the left over Maryland’s crusade to criminalize carrying at protests speaks volumes about where the Democrats currently stand on our right to keep and bear arms.
Editor’s Note: The anti-gun left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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