When Donald Trump talks guns, even his allies flinch

In the aftermath of a fatal shooting in Minnesota, US President Donald Trump's off-the-cuff remarks once again scrambled America’s gun politics, putting him at odds with gun-rights groups that have long considered him their staunchest ally — and revealing how much the power dynamics around firearms have shifted.

This isn’t new terrain for Trump, CNN analyses. After the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, he stunned conservatives by declaring during a televised meeting, “Take the guns first, go through due process second.” 

He briefly floated stronger background checks and raising the minimum age to buy certain firearms, only to retreat after objections from the National Rifle Association and other gun-rights groups.

Nearly eight years later, Trump again unsettled those same allies when he said Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti should not have been armed when federal agents fatally shot him.

“You can’t have guns. You can’t walk in with guns. You just can’t,” Trump told reporters outside the White House, appearing to blame Pretti for carrying a gun in his waistband.

Gun-rights advocates responded swiftly. They argued Pretti had a clear Second Amendment right under Minnesota law to protest while armed. The NRA avoided naming Trump directly but reaffirmed its position, writing on X: “The NRA unequivocally believes that all law-abiding citizens have a right to keep and bear arms anywhere they have a legal right to be.”

As CNN notes, the episode followed criticism of Trump officials, including FBI Director Kash Patel and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who initially portrayed Pretti as a threat because he was armed. That alignment — a Republican administration casting armed protest as illegitimate — left many advocates uneasy.

“Trump has always been a bit of a moving target when it comes to gun rights,” Rob Doar, president of the Minnesota Gun Owners Law Center, told CNN. “I think advocates are always a little bit tepid to trusting Trump as a strong mouthpiece for the Second Amendment. His administration, on the other hand, has done some really strong things.”

The tension also reflects a weaker NRA. Once a dominant force that spent $50 million during the 2016 election cycle, including more than $30 million backing Trump, the group spent just $10 million in the 2024 cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Financial scandals and the 2024 resignation of longtime leader Wayne LaPierre have diminished its clout.

“They just don’t have the juice they used to,” a Republican strategist working with Capitol Hill lawmakers told CNN.

Yet the politics have grown stranger still. While Republicans criticised Pretti for carrying a gun, Democrats — including California Gov. Gavin Newsom — defended his right to do so under state law.

“It feels like we’re in a bizarro world,” UCLA law professor Adam Winkler told CNN, noting how both parties appeared to reverse long-held positions.

Despite rhetorical clashes, Trump’s policy record remains largely friendly to gun owners. His administration reversed Biden-era gun regulations, cut funding for gun-violence research, and installed pro-gun officials across federal agencies. Past disputes, experts say, rarely last.

“His instincts aren’t necessarily with the gun-rights people,” said SUNY Cortland professor Robert Spitzer, “but the people that are running the relevant agencies and departments are the gun people.”

As CNN’s analysis suggests, Trump’s comments may be disruptive — but for a movement driven as much by voters as by lobbyists, the alliance is unlikely to fracture for long.

By Sabina Mammadli