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On Sunday, April 18, following reports of a shooting in Austin, Texas which killed three people, Republican State Representative Jared Patterson sent out a tweet using the tragedy to promote a Texas bill that would allow guns to be carried without a permit.
The GOP state legislator tweeted:
"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."
"God bless and comfort those killed and affected by the shooting in Austin today. It's time for us to fight back."
Patterson's tweet—which he sent out before police had even released a report on the shooting—inspired overwhelming criticism on social media.
Patterson's tweet seemed to be supporting the "good guy with a gun" myth popular among many conservatives.
But, as we've seen time and time again, spreading more guns into the populace does not stop gun deaths.
On the contrary, it causes more.
In the last month, there have been over 50 mass shootings in America.
People felt something needs to change.
Using the deaths of shooting victims to help ease gun restrictions seems almost unbearably cruel.
A free and fair society is one where its citizens need not fear random gun violence.
Perhaps Patterson's constituents can send him some gun violence statistics so he can understand more guns with less oversight or fewer restrictions does not equal more safety.