After the Uvalde, Texas shooting last May 24th, many have raised their voices asking for tighter gun regulations and one of them was actor Matthew McConaughey, who is native to the Texan town and a gun owner himself. Now, the now activist went to the White House to call on the political class to put aside their differences and pass real changes to stop the massacres once and for all.
His emotional and raw speech gave voice to those victims of the Uvalde shooting. He went on to describe the level of destruction caused by the AR-15 assault rifle, which meant that the children could only be identified with DNA evidence or clothing that their parents recognized.
McConaughey, who was in Uvalde last week meeting with the families, told the story of 10-year-old Maite Rodriguez, who wanted to be a marine biologist when she grew up.
“Maite was wearing Converse brand sneakers and green with a heart she had drawn on the toes of her right foot because they represented her love for nature,” the actor narrated, and then pointed to the shoes resting on the lap of his wife Camila Alves, among the attendees.
“She wore them every day. Converse sneakers with a heart on the right toes. Those are the same Converse sneakers, on her feet, that turned out to be the only evidence that could identify Maite after the shooting,” McConaughey finished, his voice increasingly shaky.
He slammed his clenched fist on the podium that the White House spokeswoman uses to give her press conferences and, after clearing his throat, continued to talk about Maite and the other murdered children.
He told the story of 10-year-old Alithia Ramirez, who dreamed of studying art in Paris and whose drawing (a self-portrait showing a friend in heaven) the actor showed on camera.
“Her mother told me that she had never been told about heaven before, but somehow she already knew,” narrated McConaughey, who also spoke of Ramirez’s father who just got a job and, every night told his daughter he was going to take her to Disney World.
McConaughey spoke of Eliahna Garcia, 9, who was preparing to read a passage from the Bible at a Mass on Wednesday night; and he also remembered Irma Garcia, one of the two teachers killed and whose husband died of a heart attack shortly after the shooting.
“You know what all the parents told Camila and I? They told us that they want their children’s dreams to last. They want their children’s dreams to continue, to accomplish something after they’re gone. They want the loss of their lives to matter,” implored McConaughey.
Hope for real change
Turning from anger and sadness to hope, the actor considered that there is a “unique opportunity” right now to pass laws that make it harder for “the bad guys” to get their hands on guns.
He considered that the U.S. is more united than politicians reflect and that society is demanding laws that allow “responsible” gun ownership, for example with criminal background checks or an increase in the age from 18 to 21 for those who want semi-automatic rifles, capable of firing a large number of bullets without reloading.
“These are reasonable and practical regulations,” argued McConaughey, who felt that those who own guns in the U.S. are “fed up” with “deranged individuals” abusing the Second Amendment of the Constitution, which protects the right to keep and bear arms.
McConaughey himself is a gun owner and his position is to increase controls on gun ownership, not ban it, an idea shared by many Americans.
According to the White House, McConaughey met briefly on Tuesday with U.S. President Joe Biden.
The actor has also held meetings over the past two days in Congress with several Democratic and Republican lawmakers, including those negotiating a bill to increase gun controls, who hope to reach an agreement before the end of the week.
With information from EFE Agency
