Actor and Texas native Matthew McConaughey’s calls for gun control are being greeted with derision by gun rights activists in Texas.
On Tuesday, McConaughey spoke to the press at the White House about the recent shooting at a Uvalde elementary school and his opinions on what needs to change.
“We need responsible gun ownership,” said McConaughey. “We need to raise the minimum age to purchase an AR-15 rifle to 21. We need a waiting period for those rifles. We need red flag laws and consequences for those that abuse them. These are reasonable, practical, tactical regulations to our nation, states, communities, schools, and homes.”
In doing this, he angered many Second Amendment advocates who say his speech consisted of misinformation and an infuriating lack of specificity and proposed to strip away their liberties guaranteed by the Constitution.
Chris McNutt, the executive director of Texas Gun Rights, told Texas Scorecard, “Another Hollywood actor shilling for gun control while they live in a gated community and work on movie sets surrounded by guards with guns? Not surprising, but sad, to say the least.”
McNutt added, “It is also hypocritical that an actor such as Mr. McConaughey has made millions of dollars from films where he wields guns—yet he wants normal, hardworking Americans suffering under massive inflation and economic crisis to just roll over and give up their rights? No, thanks.”
On the national level, The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro similarly expressed his displeasure at “being lectured by the ‘alright, alright, alright’ guy.”
McConaughey—who flirted with a gubernatorial run in Texas last year—is largely echoing the talking points of Texas Democrats, who have called on Gov. Greg Abbott to order a special session of the state Legislature to implement similar measures in the weeks since the Uvalde shooting.
So far, Abbott has not indicated whether he will call lawmakers back on the issue.
