Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey gave an emotional speech at the White House on Tuesday, 7 June, making a plea for stricter gun laws, in the aftermath of the Uvalde shooting, one of the deadliest grade school shootings in a decade.
An 18-year-old gunman killed at least 19 students and two adults in an elementary school in Texas on 24 May.
While McConaughey's wife Camilla held a pair of green high-top Converse shoes of one of the victims, the actor said:
"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."
Here’s What the Actor Said:
"To make the loss of these lives matter," starting his speech with this, McConaughey gave a 20-minute speech, sharing the stories of those who were killed in the shooting.
Telling reporters that he was born in the town of Uvalde, McConaughey said that he and his wife spent nearly a week on the ground right after the tragedy.
Saying that the common thread in all the stories they heard was that the parents and teachers wanted the loss of lives to matter.
The actor said:
"You know what every one of these parents wanted, what they asked us for? What every parent separately expressed in their own way to Camila and me? That they want their children's dreams to live on. That they want their children's dreams to continue, to accomplish something after they are gone. They want to make their loss of life matter."
Saying that this time there is something different, that there is a "window of opportunity" to enact meaningful gun legislation reform, McConaughey called for universal background checks, raising the minimum age for purchasing an AR-15 to 21, and enforcing a waiting period for purchasing AR-15s and the implementation of red flag laws.
"These are reasonable, practical, tactical regulations to our nation, states, communities, schools and homes. Responsible gun owners are fed up with the Second Amendment being abused and hijacked by some deranged individuals. These regulations are not a step back – they're a step forward for a civil society and, and the Second Amendment," McConaughey said.
The actor also displayed a colorful drawing made by Alithia Ramirez, a 10-year-old victim who had dreamed of attending art school in Paris one day. McConaughey reiterated that on the issue of gun reforms they (Americans) are not as divided as they have been told to be.
After the news of the shooting had surfaced, McConaughey said in a tweet, "This is an epidemic we can control, and whichever side of the aisle we may stand on, we all know we can do better. We must do better. Action must be taken so that no parent has to experience what the parents in Uvalde and the others before them have endured."
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