"You cannot bring a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want. It's that simple."

[gulliver]

61. This is not a good comparison.

I realize it is intended to highlight hypocrisy, but, as I've said before, in these times, hypocrisy means absolutely nothing. Relying on people feeling "shamed" when they are called out as hypocrites, no matter how legitimately, is futile. That kind of foul call only works at lower social temperatures than we're in.

The Rittenhouse comparison is apt, but I don't see how that puts Pretti in a good light. Personally, I think they're both irresponsible idiots, Rittenhouse being the bigger idiot of the two. Rittenhouse displayed his gun, and that provoked the end result. Unacceptable as it was for Pretti to be carrying a concealed weapon at a peaceful protest, legally or not, he didn't display it.

My read of what happened is that Pretti's decision to carry the weapon made him very vulnerable to random misfortune in a situation where random misfortune (due to the inherent chaos of reality) was more likely to occur. He's far less culpable than Rittenhouse.