Texas lawmaker who suggested God is responsible for mall mass shooting wants more guns at shopping outlet

The Republican U.S. Congressman from Texas who received massive criticism for suggesting God was responsible for this weekend's mass shooting at a shopping mall that left eight people including a five-year old dead is now saying he wants more guns at the Allen Premium Outlets.

Freshman Republican Rep. Keith Self, 70, whose congressional district includes Allen, Texas, served in both the Army Special Forces and Army Rangers. A Christian nationalist, far-right extremist, and 2020 presidential election denier, Self was endorsed by twice-impeached and criminally-indicted ex-president Donald Trump, along with his disgraced ex-National Security Advisor Mike Flynn, also a far-right Christian nationalist, and a QAnon supporter.

Asked Monday morning if he knew why the gunman targeted that outlet mall, Rep. Self told Fox News (video below),"I don't know, we can speculate on it."

"But I will tell you this: I believe the policy of that mall is a no-gun zone. So one of the things we've got to consider is not having these soft targets," he said, suggesting there should be more people there with guns. "I was in the military for 25 years and I will tell you soft targets are where criminals go."

Those remarks echo comments Rep. Self gave to The Washington Post in an interview published Sunday.

“If we are going to have people in our society who wantonly murder people, we are going to have to think about more protection — protecting our schools and soft targets like malls. That is the direction we need to be going: What are we going to do to protect ourselves? Unless we develop some civic conscience which means people don’t murder 5-year-olds, then we need to protect society.”

Self also told The Post, “the immediate aftermath is not the time for politics. We have long ago traded faith in God, which means civic action based on that faith, for faith in government.”

On Saturday, just hours after the mass shooting in his district, CNN's Paula Reid challenged Self, noting that many are saying prayers after mass shootings "aren't cutting it."

"Well," Self responded in this now viral video, "those are people that don't believe in an almighty God who has, who is absolutely in control of our lives. I'm a Christian, I believe that he is. We have people though, with mental health [issues] that we're not taking care of."

Multiple news reports say the suspected shooter posted or interacted with hundreds of neo-Nazi and white supremacist posts on social media.

The suspect "also had a patch on his chest when he was killed by police that read 'RWDS,' an acronym for the phrase 'Right Wing Death Squad,' which is popular among right-wing extremists and white supremacy groups, [an] official said," according to the Associated Press.

The New York Times' Nicholas Kristof, responding to Self's remarks on Saturday, echoed what many were saying.

"Seems a little much for a GOP member of Congress to blame God for a mass shooting made more likely by the failed policies of GOP members of Congress," Kristof wrote.

On his official government website, Self describes his opinion of the Second Amendment: "Our Founding Fathers established the fundamental right of every citizen to arm and protect themselves and their families. This is indisputable," he claims, a claim many legal experts reject. "It is crucial that we not give rise to those who wish to incrementally strip away our right to self-defense. I will remain steadfast against any effort to restrict our Second Amendment rights."

Watch Rep. Self's remarks to Fox News below or at this link.

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