Academy Award–successful actor Matthew McConaughey made an look on the White House Tuesday to name on Congress to “reach a higher ground” and move gun management laws in honor of the youngsters and academics killed in final month’s taking pictures rampage at an elementary faculty in his hometown of Uvalde, Texas.
In a extremely private 22-minute speech, McConaughey exhorted a gridlocked Congress to move 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 capable of muster, providing a transparent connection to the small Texas city and vividly detailing the sheer lack of the 19 youngsters and two academics within the second worst mass faculty taking pictures 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-about a run for governor of Texas earlier than taking a move, met briefly in non-public with President 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 buyers in Buffalo, N.Y., final month, referred to as on Congress to behave towards 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 taking pictures. He additionally famous that Uvalde was the place the place he was taught about tasks 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 taking pictures and hung out with the households of a few of the victims and others immediately affected by the rampage.
He stated each guardian 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 non-public tales of quite a lot of the victims.
He instructed the story of Maite Rodriguez, an aspiring marine biologist. McConaughey’s spouse, Camila, sitting close by, held Maite’s inexperienced Converse sneakers, which had a purple coronary heart on the suitable toe to signify her love of nature.
“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,” McConaughey stated.
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 learn how to 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 steered that steps might be taken to reduce the probabilities of such tragedies taking place so continuously.
“We need to invest in mental health care. 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.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”