Posted on January 25, 2026 by John Hinderaker
What We Know So Far
The left is making a hero and a martyr of Alex Pretti, which makes perfect sense if you ignore nearly all the facts. Here is what we know so far:
* Pretti was no innocent bystander or peaceful protester. He was a member of the signal “ICE watch group” that was formed to interfere with federal law enforcement. Matt Margolis has much more about the well-organized, and no doubt well-financed, criminal group of which Pretti was a member.
* Pretti came to an area where federal officers were carrying out an enforcement action with the intent of trying to disrupt them. He brought with him a luxury version of the popular SIG P320 semiautomatic pistol. The gun’s magazine holds 21 rounds, and he brought along a spare magazine with, presumably, another 21 rounds. Somehow, he thought he needed not only to be armed, but to have 42 rounds ready to go. He carried no identification, a fact which adds to the suspicion that he intended some kind of a shootout.
* Pretti committed at least three crimes. The first was when he interfered with officers, which we see at the beginning of the various videos. We don’t know the full extent of his actions because videos prior to his altercation with the officers have not yet surfaced. But they will. He committed a second crime when he resisted arrest.
* Pretti committed a third crime, the significance of which is not yet clear. It has been asserted that Pretti had a carry permit. That may turn out to be true; if so, he violated the law that requires anyone who is carrying to have on his person 1) his carry permit, and 2) identification. If Pretti did not in fact have a carry permit, then his bringing the gun to the protest was illegal, regardless of whether he owned the gun legally.
* It is remarkably stupid to fight with officers who are placing you under arrest. It is doubly stupid if you are armed. It is hard to understand how anyone could expect such an altercation to end well.
more
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2026/01/what-we-know-so-far.php
