By AAMER MADHANI
WASHINGTON (AP) — Academy Award–successful actor Matthew McConaughey made an look on the White House Tuesday to name on Congress to “reach a higher ground” and go gun management laws in honor of the youngsters and academics killed in final month’s capturing rampage at an elementary faculty in his hometown of Uvalde, Texas.
In a extremely private 22-minute speech, McConaughey exhorted a gridlocked Congress to go gun reforms that may save lives with out infringing on Second Amendment rights.
McConaughey, a gun proprietor himself, used his star energy to make an argument for laws in a trend that the Biden administration has not been in a position to muster, providing a transparent connection to the small Texas city and vividly detailing the sheer lack of the 19 kids and two academics within the second worst mass faculty capturing in U.S. historical past.
He particularly referred to as on Congress to bolster background checks for gun purchases and lift the minimal age to buy an AR-15-style rifle to 21 from 18.
“We want secure and safe schools and we want gun laws that won’t make it so easy for the bad guys to get the damn guns,” McConaughey stated.
McConaughey, who earlier this 12 months thought of a run for governor of Texas earlier than taking a go, met briefly in personal with President Joe Biden earlier than addressing the White House press corps from the James Brady briefing room.
McConaughey has additionally met with key lawmakers this week, together with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee that handles gun laws, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, and the panel’s rating Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa.
Also Tuesday, the son of Ruth Whitfield, an 86-year-old girl killed when a gunman opened fireplace in a racist assault on Black consumers in Buffalo, New York, final month, referred to as on Congress to behave in opposition to the “cancer of white supremacy” and the nation’s epidemic of gun violence.
“Is there nothing that you personally are willing to do to stop the cancer of white supremacy and the domestic terrorism it inspires?” Garnell Whitfield Jr. requested members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
McConaughey, who declined to take questions, spoke of his personal connections to the city. He stated his mom taught kindergarten lower than a mile from Uvalde’s Robb Elementary School, the location of the May 24 capturing. He additionally famous that Uvalde was the place the place he was taught about duties that include gun possession.
“Uvalde is where I was taught to revere the power and the capability of the tool that we call a gun,” he stated.
McConaughey stated he and his spouse drove again to Uvalde on the day after the capturing and hung out with the households of a few of the victims and others straight affected by the rampage.
He stated each mother or father he spoke to expressed that “they want their children’s dreams to live on.”
“They want to make their loss of life matter,” McConaughey stated.
He associated the private tales of quite a few the victims.
He instructed the story of Maite Rodriguez, an aspiring marine biologist. McConaughey’s spouse, Camila, sitting close by, held a pair of inexperienced Converse sneakers resembling people who the lady usually wore.
McConaughey stated the sneakers “turned out to be the only clear evidence that could identify her after the shooting.”
He held up art work from Alithia Ramirez, who dreamed of attending artwork faculty in Paris. And then there was Eliahna “Ellie” Garcia, who beloved dancing and church and already knew drive tractors. Ellie was trying ahead to studying a Bible verse at an upcoming church service when she was killed.
McConaughey acknowledged that gun laws wouldn’t finish mass shootings however advised that steps may be taken to minimize the possibilities of such tragedies taking place so steadily.
“We need to invest in mental healthcare. We need safer schools. We need to restrain sensationalized media coverage. We need to restore our family values. We need to restore our American values and we need responsible gun ownership,” McConaughey stated.
“Is this a cure-all? Hell no, but people are hurting.”
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Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro and Farnoush Amiri contributed to this report.
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In a model of this story revealed June 7, 2022, The Associated Press quoted McConaughey saying his spouse Camila was holding a pair of sneakers worn by a lady who died within the assault. The footwear had been related, however they weren’t the lady’s sneakers.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”