Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) views the deadliest mass shooting in his state’s history as evidence that more church parishioners should carry guns for self-protection.

“This is going to happen again,” Paxton told Fox News on Sunday, since “you can’t necessarily keep guns out of the hands of people who are going to violate the law.”

Devin Patrick Kelley allegedly opened fire during a church service in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Sunday morning, killing at least 26 people and wounding 20 others. He fled the scene and was found dead from a gunshot wound in neighboring Guadalupe County, Wilson County authorities said.

To support his argument, Paxton pulled out the National Rifle Association’s favorite talking point: “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”

“All I can say is in Texas, at least we have the opportunity to have conceal carry,” Paxton said. “There’s always the opportunity that the gunman will be taken out before he has the opportunity to kill very many people.”

Fox News anchor Eric Shawn pushed back, arguing that a firearm and the church are “two potentially diametrically opposed concepts.”

Paxton disagreed and called for more armed security guards in church or “at least arming some of the parishioners so they can respond to something like this.”

A new law that went into effect in September allows Texas churches to arm members of its congregations by hiring security companies or off-duty police officers.

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