Jeanine Pirro Threat To Gun Owners Sparks Anger of MAGA, Republicans

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Newsweek

Feb 03, 2026 at 04:39 AM EST


U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s threat to jail law-abiding gun owners who travel to Washington, D.C., with firearms has sparked anger from Republicans, including some of President Donald Trump’s staunchest supporters. Pirro, the chief federal prosecutor in the District of Columbia and a Trump appointee, said on Monday that anyone who brings a gun to the nation’s capital should “count on going to jail” even if they are licensed elsewhere.

The comments also drew pushback from gun rights advocates, including the National Association of Gun Rights, which called them “unacceptable and intolerable.” Newsweek contacted Pirro’s office and the White House for comment via an email sent outside regular business hours.

Why It Matters

Pirro's comments come as Trump, who has long cast himself as a supporter of Second Amendment rights, and some Republicans have been at odds with gun rights advocates since the fatal shooting of intensive care nurse Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis last month. Videos that have emerged of the shooting show that Pretti did not unholster his concealed weapon, which officials said he was licensed to carry.

Her comments could deepen a rift between gun owners and the Trump administration, as the president and White House officials have faced criticism for blaming Pretti for carrying a gun. FBI Director Kash Patel also sparked anger from gun rights advocates after suggesting people could not bring firearms to protests.

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/jeanine-pirro-threat-gun-owners-sparks-anger-maga-republicans-11456689

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As a note, D.C. had one of the strictest gun laws until Heller torpedoed it, but have still attempted other restrictions that are in the process of being torpedoed by 45's MAGat DOJ - Justice Department Sues the District of Columbia for the Unconstitutional Ban of Semi-Automatic Firearms (press release dated Dec. 22, 2025)

How do you reconcile this "DOJ vs DOJ"?

[johnnyfins]

1. Does that mean she will be going after

Members of Congress and their staff? Im quite sure a good percentage of those people are strapped.

[creon]

6. Yes

I am sure that a large number of them are armed.
If I were ia member of Congress, I would have employees well versed in using firearms, Jan 6 showed the need.

[hadEnuf]

2. Hey, MAGA.

Trump is coming for your guns. You can count on it. That's the first move of any dictator, remember?

You shitheads are the biggest chumps in history.

[orangecrush]

12. Yup

[Wounded Bear]

13. Not necessarily their "first move" but it is definitely on the agenda...nt

[doc03]

3. Isn't confiscating guns in the authoritarian play book? nt

[Scalded Nun]

4. Truly amazing that the RW idiots have never figured out that Repugs do not give a shit about protecting gun rights

and that it has only been a huge carrot to dangle in order to gain their support and love (not unlike abortion).

Head's up assholes. Once they no longer need you they will take your weapons...and they will happily pry your cold dead finger (or maybe for expediency just cut it off) away from the trigger to remove it from your person.

[mysteryowl]

5. Is this preparation for something?

The perpetual criminal most likely is planning something that will take place in DC.

America can't take 3 more years of this!

[BumRushDaShow]

8. They are left pretzel-twisting the justification talking point that has now been concocted by 45 for killing Alex Pretti

because he "came to a protest with a gun", despite being lawfully licensed to carry it, and had never pulled it out/"brandished" it.

Being able to pack heat anywhere they want as long as they are legally permitted to carry it, is the core belief of the 2A gun humpers.

The hypocrisy that 45 displayed regarding "guns" (when it suddenly applied to someone from the left) has been laid bare, while his loons scramble to uphold that "no guns" mantra, and are now forced to double down on it.

[twodogsbarking]

7. You can take away healthcare, education, freedom of speech, privacy, a fair chance at a comfortable living but

thou shallot not take thee guns away. God said.

[flashman13]

16. You are absolutely right. Attacking the Second Amendment really is the bridge too far.

[twodogsbarking]

17. Protecting the thing that kills us and ignoring the things that help us live. Cue the flag wavin'. yee haw.

Somebody give me a cheeeeseburger.

[Ol Janx Spirit]

9. This is the one area where Project 2025 isn't getting its way entirely. And...

...it is not hard to see why: authoritarians can't have just anyone armed. It can only be their supporters.

And certainly, keeping anyone but the National Guard from being armed anywhere near the Capitol will be a priority for an Administration that sees the next protest at the Capitol as coming from the left.

I guess we get to find out now how serious the GOP was about the 2nd Amendment.... I think we can guess that as with all of the other things they used to scream about believing in but just abandoned at the alter of Orange Jesus, this amendment too shall pass into the waste bin of autocracy.

[mackdaddy]

10. "Justice Department sues DC over block of semi-automatic guns"

Funny how things reverse in just a few weeks...

The Justice Department has sued Washington, DC, over its law banning residents from registering ownership of semi-automatic guns.

Under DC law, all gun owners must register their weapons with local police. The nation's capital, though, bars the registration of AR-15 and other fast-loading guns, which effectively blocks people from legally owning them.

The "ban on some of America's most popular firearms is an unconstitutional infringement on the Second Amendment," US Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement, referring to the right to bear arms.

The lawsuit filed on Monday is the latest tangle between the Democrat-majority city and Republicans in the federal government over gun ownership.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy7v4pg2edno

[patphil]

11. We know that dictatorial regimes can't tolerate an armed populace.

But Trump has always pushed for total freedom when it comes to gun ownership.
Jeanine is a wee bit early in the game here. First you seize the government, then exert total control, then you go after the guns.
It's not going to be easy for the republicans to disarm a nation where there are more guns than there are people.
If anything can break the MAGA movement, this would be it.

[Cirsium]

14. The truth revealed

The MAGA gun nonsense never had anything to do with the Second Amendment, just as the ICE terror campaign has nothing to do with immigration. Both are expressions of the ongoing white settler project. White nationalism.

[Waldo51]

15. Gun owners, mark my words

Gun owners, mark my words, if this fascist regime perceives your AR-15 as a threat they will Ruby ridge your ass in a heartbeat, Second amendment be damned.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

18. MaddowBlog-Pirro's threat to jail gun owners inflames gun-rights advocates already sore at Trump

The top federal prosecutor in D.C. went into full damage-control mode on Tuesday morning.

Link to tweet

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/jeanine-pirro-second-amendment-gun-rights-jail

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s tenure as the top federal prosecutor in the nation’s capital hasn’t exactly been smooth. The former Fox News host has, just in recent months, lost key cases and launched absurd criminal investigations.

But the Trump-appointed prosecutor has nevertheless maintained a high public profile, making frequent appearances in conservative media, including a Fox News appearance on Monday in which Pirro unexpectedly threatened to arrest anyone who enters Washington, D.C., with a gun.

Pirro: "You bring a gun into the District, you mark my words, you're going to jail. I don't care if you have a license in another district and I don't care if you're a law abiding law owner somewhere else. You bring a gun into this District, count on going to jail. And that makes all the difference"

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-02-02T20:49:11.817Z

.....Second Amendment advocates — many of whom were already displeased after Donald Trump and other leading administration officials said Americans couldn’t bring guns to public events — were bothered anew after seeing Pirro’s comment.

It also sparked some mockery among Democrats, including Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., who joked via social media that he was “old enough to remember the ‘Obama is going to grab your guns’ hysteria. Turns out it was the Trump White House.”

On Tuesday morning, Pirro scrambled to undo the damage she’d done, publishing an online item describing herself as “a proud supporter of the Second Amendment.” Roughly two hours later, she kept going with a minute-long video statement directed at “my fellow gun owners.”

Link to tweet

“Washington, D.C., law requires handguns be licensed in the district with the Metropolitan Police Department to be carried into our community,” Pirro said in the video, by way of a defense. “We are focused on individuals who are unlawfully carrying guns and will continue building on that momentum to keep our communities safe.”

“We’re taking guns off the street, illegal guns in the hands of criminals who want to use those guns to victimize law-abiding citizens,” she added. “There’s a big difference here. You’re responsible, you follow the laws, you’re not going to have a problem with me.”

Time will tell whether gun-rights advocates find this satisfactory, but shortly after Pirro began walking back her comments, a spokesperson for the National Association for Gun Rights argued via social media, “You can’t say you ‘support the Second Amendment’ while threatening to jail peaceful gun owners for crossing a city line.”

[BumRushDaShow]

19. They did all this to justify executing a "lib" who was lawfully carrying a registered gun

that he brought with him to a protest, never unholstered, and taken away from him, all before they hauled off and fired shots at him.

It's too late. No way to un-ring that bell.