TYLER, Texas —
After the Midland and Odessa shooting, Texas Representative Matt Schaefer, of House District 6, took to social media to express his views on gun rights.
In a Facebook post, he stated, “I am NOT going to use the evil acts of a handful of people to diminish the God-given rights of my fellow Texans. Period. None of these so-called gun-control solutions will work to stop a person with evil intent.”
The post left many online to agree and disagree.
One Facebook user said, “ I am all for the right to bear arms but this seems illogical to me.” Another wrote, “It does not matter if you believe in God or not, every man/woman has the RIGHT to be free and protect themselves.”
Executive Director of PATH, Gregg Grubs spoke on the matter as well saying, “Your position is very clear. YES to thoughts and prayers and more guns (including rifles), NO to any legislative steps to address the violence. Clearly we must look for solutions and relief elsewhere."
“When someone is hurt and is a victim of a shooting, that it is the good and proper response to pray for that person. It's also good to pray for protection,” Schaefer said.
The U.S. has seen three mass shootings within the past few weeks and many are looking to state representatives for answers on how to control these issues.
“The idea that we're not doing anything is wrong, we're doing a lot," Schaefer said. "But ultimately, there are evil people in the world. And if you focus on the object, which is the gun, you're missing the point because that evil person could find a lot of ways to hurt someone."
Schaefer made sure his stance was loud and clear on what he was for and against. His post read, "NO to “red flag” pre-crime laws. NO to universal background checks. NO to bans on AR-15s, or high capacity magazines. NO to mandatory gun buybacks."
“Someone who wants to get a gun can get one, it doesn't matter what law we're going to pass." He explained.
Schaefer says he hopes for safer schools, more guns, and more prayers.
“I think enforcement of our existing laws is where we ought to look and make sure that we're doing the right things there," Schaefer said. "But, focusing on taking rights away from law-abiding citizens, is just not going to get us there.”
Many laws were passed September 1 including raising the legal smoking age to 21, which Schaefer voted against. As well as new house bills that allow guns in various places.
“With adulthood comes the ability to do things sometimes that someone might think is stupid or irresponsible. But ultimately, we live in a free society,” he said.
The day before the Midland and Odessa shooting, Governor Greg Abbott held his first domestic terrorism task force meeting. All in an effort to prevent future shooting massacres in Texas.
“This is going to be an ongoing process until we can ensure that we are undertaking every strategy possible to make sure we do everything we can to undermine and to eradicate domestic terrorism in Texas,” Gov. Abbott said.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick also weighed in with contributing efforts by creating the Senate Select Committee on Mass Violence Prevention and Community Safety. Members will study and recommend effective legislative solutions to help prevent mass gun violence and improve community safety.
Depending on what bills are presented in Austin for the 87th legislature, it may be some time before the house is back in session. Next week, Congress will work on revising gun safety laws.