- Matthew McConaughey met with Biden and gave a speech at the White House press briefing on Tuesday.
- The actor is pushing leaders to take action on gun violence after the school shooting in his hometown, Uvalde.
- McConaughey visited with the families of the victims and honored them in his remarks.
Actor Matthew McConaughey met with President Joe Biden and delivered an emotional speech about the recent mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, during the White House press briefing on Tuesday.
"Can both sides rise above? Can both sides see beyond the political problem at hand, and admit that we have a life preservation problem on our hands?" McConaughey said. "We've got a chance right now to reach for, and to grasp, a higher ground, above our political affiliations."
McConaughey, a Uvalde native, has been in the nation's capital this week with his wife, Camila Alves, meeting with congressional leaders and urging them to take action on gun violence.
"We need responsible gun ownership. We need background checks. We need to raise the minimum age to purchase an AR-15 rifle to 21," he said. "We need a waiting period for those rifles. We need red flag laws and consequences for those who abuse them."
"These are reasonable, practical, tactical regulations to our nation, states, communities and homes," he continued. "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 the Second Amendment."
The May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde left 19 students and two teachers dead. During his speech, McConaughey said he met with the families of the victims in the wake of the attack and grew visibly emotional as he honored the lives lost.
"Her dream was to go to art school in Paris, and one day share her art with the world," McConaughey said, later holding up a self-portrait illustration of Alithia Ramirez, a 10-year-old who was killed in the shooting.
Her parents, Ryan and Jessica Ramirez, shared the art piece with McConaughey and told him that "showing someone else Alithia's art would in some way keep her alive."
Another victim of the shooting, 10-year-old Maite Rodriguez, wanted to be a marine biologist and was already in touch with Texas A&M University Corpus Christi for her "future enrollment," McConaughey said.
"Maite wore green high-top Converse with a heart she had hand drawn on the right toe because they represented her love of nature," McConaughey said, as his wife, who was seated in the briefing room, held up the victim's shoes.
"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," he continued, pounding his fist on the podium.
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At another point, McConaughey alluded to Americans' widespread support for more gun-safety laws. Public polling shows that a majority of voters favor stricter gun legislation.
"As divided as our country is, this gun responsibility issue is one that we agree on more than we don't. It really is. But this should be a non-partisan issue," McConaughey said.
Some of the actions that McConaughey called for are currently under discussion between Republican and Democratic lawmakers — part of a new momentum on Capitol Hill to tackle gun violence in response to the latest string of shootings across the nation. For years, Congress has failed to reach consensus to address the crisis.
"We need to recognize that this time, it seems that something is different. There's a sense that perhaps there's a viable path forward," McConaughey said at the start of his remarks.
The Oscar-winning actor also made national headlines early last year when he expressed an interest in running for governor of Texas. He announced last fall that he wouldn't enter the race.
"As a simple kid born in the little town of Uvalde, Texas, it never occurred to me that I would one day be considered for political leadership. It's a humbling and inspiring path to ponder," McConaughey said in a video on Twitter. "It is also a path that I am choosing not to take at this moment."