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Texas Rep. Joe Barton's Son Reacts to Gun Violence

Two Texas Congressmen were caught in the crossfire during the Virginia shooting Wednesday morning. Congressman Roger Williams was injured diving for cover, as was state representative Joe Barton.

Rep. Joe Barton manages the GOP baseball team and was there with his two sons. Both his 10-year-old son and older son, Brad Barton, had to run and duck for cover when those shots were fired.

“I was near the batting cage with my brother,” Brad Barton told NBC DFW. “When I heard the shots I could tell it was gunfire. My brother ran over to my dad near the dugout, and I hit the ground. It lasted for maybe 10 minutes. I got on the phone and called my wife and said ‘we’re under attack,’ with gunfire going off in the background," he said.

The shooting sheds light on an important question: Should political leaders have extra security?

“My dad is a man of the people, and he doesn’t live behind glass windows. With security, there is no easy solution,” said Barton.

The gun violence was followed by overwhelming emotion.

“The greatest emotion other than fear is just the frustration of helplessness, because you're just lying there prone because you think it’s a smart thing to do from a safety perspective, but you're not doing anything to solve the problem," Barton explained. "So you're sitting there going, 'do I stand up and look around, but then I'll probably just get shot so I just lay here.' So it’s that’s sense of helplessness that is overwhelming."

Brad Barton praised the capitol officers who stepped in to subdue the shooter.

“We had those two police officers there to pin the shooter down and save a bunch of lives. Without those guys there, I mean this is another Fort Hood, Sandy Hook, you know, we wouldn't be talking about four and five people shot and injured. We'd be talking about 15, 20. I mean, it would have been really really really bad,” said Barton.

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