Following Mass Shooting, Texas Republican Criticized for Promoting Measure That Makes It Easier for People to Carry Guns

X Facebook Email Flipboard Pinterest Print Reddit

Last updated on April 20th, 2021 at 08:58 pm

Jared Patterson, a Republican Texas state representative, has been resoundingly criticized after he promoted a measure that makes it easier for individuals to carry guns in the wake of a mass shooting in Austin.

Last week, the Texas House approved House Bill 1927, which will allow anyone at least 21-years-old to carry a handgun without a permit.

“Evil exists in this world. HB 1927 gives law-abiding citizens the ability to fight back, to protect themselves and their families w/out being restricted by the govt,” Patterson wrote on Twitter.

“God bless and comfort those killed and affected by the shooting in Austin today. It’s time for us to fight back,” he added.

Patterson’s remarks were swiftly condemned.

HB 1927 was approved despite Texans’s calls for stricter gun control measures a spate of mass shootings has shocked individuals nationwide. There were 45 mass shootings in the last month, four of them in Texas.

The shooting in Austin claimed the lives of two Hispanic women and one Black male. Authorities arrested Stephen Broderick, a former detective with the Travis County Sheriff’s Office, in Manor, Texas, a few miles from where the incident occurred.