Matthew McConaughey gave a passionate address at the White House on Tuesday, imploring Congress to support tighter gun control legislation. The Oscar winner, 52, took his time at the press conference platform to recount the stories of those who perished in last month’s tragic shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, the actor’s birthplace.
McConaughey displayed a sketch by one of the child victims, Alithia Ramirez, 10, stating that the young girl had hoped to attend art school in Paris.
The actor became emotional as his wife, Camila Alves, displayed a pair of green Converse sneakers with a heart painted on them, which authorities used to identify another child victim, Maite Rodriguez.
McConaughey slammed the stage in frustration, claiming the shoes were the sole solid proof that might identify her.
Prior to his statement, the “Dallas Buyers Club” star met with lawmakers and President Biden, explaining that the corpses of the shooting’s 21 victims — 19 youngsters and two teachers — were “disfigured” by the huge exit wounds from the shooter’s AR-15 weapon. DNA testing were required in numerous cases for recognition. Numerous kids were not just left dead, but hollow, the actor remarked.
After the attack, McConaughey, Alves, and their three kids drove to Uvalde to meet with victims’ relatives. Family members informed the couple in their grief that they didn’t want their loved ones to die in vain.
He said, the common factor was the same, regardless of the rage, uncertainty, or despair. How can these families manage to commemorate these deaths by maintaining these children’s and teachers’ dreams alive? How can the loss of their lives matter again?
Actor and Uvalde, TX native Matthew McConaughey spoke at the White House Press Briefing. "This moment is different. We are in a window of opportunity right now that we have not been in before. A window where it seems like real change, real change can happen. Uvalde, Texas is where I was born." While discussing the victims of the recent school shooting, McConaughey's wife Camilla holds green high-top Converse shoes of the one of the Uvalde, TX victims. "These are the same green Converse on her feet that turned out to be the only clear evidence that could identify her after the shooting." He also says, "Can both sides rise above? Can both sides see beyond the political problem at hand and admit that we have a life preservation problem on our hands?" And, "America, you and me, we are not as divided as we are being told we are. No." Full video here: https://www.c-span.org/video/?520803-1/white-house-daily-briefing
Posted by C-SPAN on Tuesday, 7 June 2022
McConaughey also chastised “those in power” in both the Democratic and Republican parties for failing to adopt tighter gun regulations.
“Can both sides see beyond the political problem at hand and admit that we have a life preservation problem on our hands?” asked the actor, who supports universal background checks for gun buyers, increased the age to purchase assault rifles from 18 to 21, and instituted a national waiting period for assault rifles.
‘We must take a serious, modest, and genuine look in the mirror and reinvent ourselves in accordance with what we genuinely value,’ he continued.
McConaughey, whose mom is a former kindergarten teacher, described his reaction to the tragedy as horror. He said that he drove home and held his kids a little tighter and longer than the night before, and then the gravity of what had occurred that day in the place where he was born hit him.
The next morning, the couple and their children travelled to Uvalde, where they also established a relief fund for victims’ families. He claimed, one could sense the devastation in the town even from inside our vehicle. One could sense the anguish.
On May 25, only a day after the massacre, McConaughey took to social media to call on Congress to enact stronger gun restrictions.
Uvalde, Texas, USA. pic.twitter.com/0iULRGtREm
— Matthew McConaughey (@McConaughey) May 25, 2022
He wrote, ‘this is an epidemic we can manage, and regardless of where we stand on the political spectrum, we all know we can do better. Measures must be taken so that no parent has to go through what the parents in Uvalde and others have gone through.’
