Texas state representative Frederick Frazier, his wife and two children were at Allen Premium Outlets on Saturday, May 6, roughly an hour before the fatal shooting of eight people. As a Republican state representative from McKinney, he now believes that the moment has come to initiate discussions about enhancing gun regulations in Texas.
During an interview with WFAA, Frazier said he is “absolutely” willing to consider changes, especially to laws surrounding AR-15-style weapons. Local Profile reached out to Frazier’s office but did not receive a response prior to publishing.
“Are we making it too easy for them to get these weapons? Why is that particular weapon the weapon of choice every time?” Frazier asked. “And that’s something we have to take a hard look at, and that hard look needs to come from the 2A grassroots. It has to come from the NRA. That sit down has to happen."
Frazier came to the defense of two Republican House colleagues, state Rep. Justin Holland and state Rep. Sam Harless. They voted in favor of advancing a bill, House Bill 2744, that would raise the age limit for purchasing certain semi-automatic firearms, such as AR-15s, out of a select committee. The unexpected committee vote was seen as a victory for families who lost loved ones in Uvalde and who have been lobbying at the Texas Capitol consistently.
However, the bill's future remains uncertain since the calendars committee has yet to decide whether to move it forward to the floor, and the deadline to do so is swiftly approaching.
“They’re doing it from their heart. They’re not doing it because they hate guns. We’re gun wearers,” Frazier told WFAA. “Why would we want to take guns away from citizens to protect themselves? We want citizens to be armed. We want citizens to protect themselves, but we also don’t want maniacs with pure evil in their hearts to go out there and kill our families and everyone else’s family.”
Frazier said he is pleading with his colleagues to engage in difficult conversations that are necessary to make progress on gun legislation before the session ends in less than three weeks. He expressed his desire for action on the issue and stressed the urgency of taking meaningful steps to address gun violence.
“I’m a Republican through and true, but this needs to be where we come together and figure out how to fix this.”
