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Matthew McConaughey makes eloquent call for ‘gun responsibility’ over gun control: ‘We can do both’

June 6, 2022 | | Print Article

Actor, activist, and Uvalde, Texas, native Matthew McConaughey distinguished between “gun control” and “gun responsibility” in a recent op-ed in which he made the case that we don’t have to sacrifice the Second Amendment to keep firearms out of “dangerous” hands.

“We can do both,” McConaughey wrote in an eloquent piece for the Austin American-Statesman.

“I believe that responsible, law-abiding Americans have a Second Amendment right, enshrined by our founders, to bear arms,” he wrote. “I also believe we have a cultural obligation to take steps toward slowing down the senseless killing of our children.”

“The debate about gun control had delivered nothing but status quo,” the star of Fools Gold, The Lincoln Lawyer, and Mud stated. “It’s time we talk about gun responsibility.”

In recent years, McConaughey has garnered fans in the political realm for his common-sense, “everyman” approach to complex issues, fueling speculations that he would run for governor of the Lone Star State.

As American Wire reported, the 52-year-old actor ultimately decided to leave the work of fixing the many problems facing Texas and Americans in general to “the leaders and the servants out there.”

But following the tragic events at Robb Elementary school, as not just a Uvalde native, but as “a father, the son of a kindergarten teacher, and an American,” McConaughey decided he needed to speak out.

“There is a difference between control and responsibility,” he explained. “The first is a mandate that can infringe on our right; the second is a duty that will preserve it.”

“There is no constitutional barrier to gun responsibility,” he said. “Keeping firearms out of the hands of dangerous people is not only the responsible thing to do, it is the best way to protect the Second Amendment. We can do both.”

McConaughey argued that “Saving the unnecessary loss of lives is not a partisan issue” and said “we don’t have the luxury of time.”

“We need to focus on corrections and countermeasures that can also and immediately reduce the gun violence tragedies that have become too common in our country,” he stated.

“We need to make the lost lives matter,” he urged. “Our leaders must make bipartisan compromises on a few reasonable measures to restore responsible gun ownership in our country.”

McConaughey then laid out his beliefs, reminding readers that, despite his “average all-American-guy” non-political approach, he favors many things that Dems are clamoring for on Capitol Hill: background checks; Red Flag Laws, which he says “should be the law of the land”; a “national waiting period for assault rifles”; and, for all but those in the military, the raising of the legal age to purchase an “assault rifle” to 21.

In substance, it’s what you’d expect to hear from any number of liberals on CNN. McConaughey just delivers the message better — which shouldn’t be surprising as delivering other people’s messages is what the guy does for a living.

“I want to be clear,” he wrote. “I am not under the illusion that these policies will solve all of our problems, but if responsible solutions can stop some of these tragedies from striking another community without destroying the Second Amendment, they’re worth it.”

Alright, Matthew. Alright, alright, alright…

Melissa Fine
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