Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey, who recently witnessed his hometown of Uvalde, Texas, become the latest site of a school shooting, has had enough.
In an op-ed to the Austin American-Stateman, McConaughey opens by calling himself “a father and a gun owner, the son of a kindergarten teacher, and a Texan from Uvalde.”
He says, “I believe that responsible, law-abiding Americans have a Second Amendment right, enshrined by our founders, to bear arms. I also believe we have a cultural obligation to take steps toward slowing down the senseless killing of our children.”
The actor argues, “The debate about gun control has delivered nothing but status quo. It’s time we talk about gun responsibility.”
“There is a difference between control and responsibility,” McConaughey says.
“The first is a mandate that can infringe on our right; the second is a duty that will preserve it. There is no constitutional barrier to gun responsibility. Keeping firearms out of the hands of dangerous people is not only the responsible thing to do, it is the best way to protect the Second Amendment. We can do both.”
The actor and activist says, “Depraved acts of violence, with guns as the weapon of choice, are ripping apart families, testing people’s faith, and tearing at the fabric of society.”
There is an “epidemic…of deranged individuals killing indiscriminately, parents burying their children, of inaction and buck-passing,” the actor says.
He adds, “Saving lives is not a partisan issue. Responsible Americans must step up.”
McConaughey says he and his wife, Camila Alves McConaughey, “have seen it with our own eyes in my hometown…where parents are attending their own children’s funerals. We are all mourning.”
The celebrity couple recently created the Uvalde Relief Fund through their Just Keep Livin’ nonprofit.
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