Texas Rep. Holland Votes to Raise AR-15 Minimum Purchase Age to 21 After 33-Year-Old Mall Attacker Uses One

Texas state Rep. Justin Holland (R-Rockwall) caved to gun controllers Monday and voted in support of a bill, HB 2744, to raise the minimum purchase age for AR-15s and similar semiautomatic rifles from 18 to 21.

On Saturday, an attacker opened fire on Allen, Texas, mall goers with an AR-15. The attacker was 33 years old, so HB 2744 would not have prevented the shooting.

Holland has taken intense pushback over his gun control vote and he posted a letter to Twitter trying to defuse the frustration pro-Second Amendment Texans are feeling.

The letter said, in part:

I do not believe in gun control, and I certainly don’t agree with the Biden administration’s many attempts to undermine our gun rights. When I voted for a bill in committee to raise the age requirement from 18 to 21 to purchase semi-automatic rifles with detachable magazines whose caliber is greater than .22, I did so in full knowledge that some people would try to mischaracterize my vote and motivations for casting it.

This bill is a slap in the face to gun owners. Law-abiding citizens ages 18-20 have EVERY right to protect and defend themselves.

Compromises like this are why we work incredibly hard to vet candidates' Second Amendment beliefs before offering them our support and the support of… https://t.co/dHCkWiNA9P

— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) May 9, 2023

Shannon Watts, founder of the Mike Bloomberg-affiliated gun control group Moms Demand Action, praised the passage of HB 2744 after Holland voted for it.

Watts tweeted: “THEY DID IT!! Texas Moms Demand volunteers and survivors, including Uvalde and Santa Fe families, have been advocating for the Raise the Age bill for weeks and finally – on the last day for this vote – it passed out cold committee.”

Gun Owners of America (GOA) responded to Holland’s pro-gun control vote by criticizing it as “compromise” with anti-Second Amendment forces.

GOA noted, “This bill is a slap in the face to gun owners. Law-abiding citizens ages 18-20 have EVERY right to protect and defend themselves.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. AWR Hawkins holds a PhD in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.