Charlie Kirk’s 2nd Amendment Post Resurfaces After Latest ICE Shooting

A years-old post from Charlie Kirk is going viral again, this time amid the outrage following the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis nurse that spread rapidly across social media over the weekend. Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse, was fatally shot Saturday in Minnesota during a confrontation involving a Border Patrol agent, according to the information circulating online. The incident quickly became a flashpoint as videos of the encounter made the rounds, arriving as tensions were already high following another shooting involving an ICE agent.

Federal officials and the Donald Trump administration have claimed the agent acted in self-defense, citing the fact that Pretti was carrying a firearm. But online, critics pointed to viral videos and media coverage they say raise questions about that account, including reporting that a gun was taken from Pretti before shots were fired, and that he was shot multiple times after the initial gunfire.

As the debate exploded, one quote attributed to U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli began spreading widely as well. “If you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you," he said. "Don’t do it!”

Online users framed the remark as part of a broader argument about gun rights and policing, with some pointing to constitutional protections and past court rulings as they weighed in on what they believe the law does, and does not, allow during confrontations with law enforcement.

With the internet already on fire over the shooting and competing narratives about what happened, a 2018 post from Kirk began trending again, and it quickly drew attention because of the current political moment.

Kirk had written on X “The 2nd amendment is not for hunting, it is not for self protection. It is there to ensure that free people can defend themselves if god forbid government became tyrannical and turned against its citizens.”

The renewed circulation of Kirk’s post comes as many users on X debated the shooting, the presence of a firearm, and how the Second Amendment is applied in real-world encounters with law enforcement. The post was shared multiple times, including by the official House Democrats page, which remarked, “Interesting.”

As Kirk’s resurfaced 2018 post continued to make the rounds, the reactions in the comments were a mix of sarcasm and dread.

One user summed up the tone by labeling the viral moment “Thought leader,” while others suggested they were bracing for the chaos the quote would spark in their feeds. “This is a good one to keep in my pocket, I’m sure I’m going to need it at some point today,” one commenter wrote as another commenter put it bluntly, “We’re so cooked, bro.”

This isn’t the first time Kirk’s past statements about guns have sparked backlash. In September, a past quote from Charlie Kirk reappeared online after the political commentator was tragically shot. The 31-year-old Turning Point USA leader was speaking at an event at Utah Valley University on September 10 when he was shot in the neck.

That earlier resurfacing included another quote from a Turning Point USA Faith event in April 2023 that drew intense reaction when it circulated. “I think it’s worth it. It’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God given rights. That’s a prudent deal. It is rational,” he said on stage at a Turning Point USA Faith event in April 2023.

He continued, “Nobody talks like this. They live in a complete different universe. So then how do you reduce? Very simple… I don’t know. How did we stop shooting at baseball games? ‘Cause we have armed guards outside of baseball games. That’s why.”

Kirk also made clear he didn’t believe gun deaths could be eliminated entirely, saying, “We need to be very clear, you are not going to get gun deaths to zero. It will not happen. You can significantly reduce them, by having more fathers in the home, by having more armed guards in front of schools. We should have a honest and clear reductionist view of gun violence, but we should not have a utopian one.”

With the Minnesota shooting still under intense scrutiny, Kirk’s past Second Amendment comments have been dragged back into the conversation, fueling yet another round of viral backlash and political blowups.