Actor and native Texan Matthew McConaughey slammed political extremists in an op-ed published in Esquire on Tuesday, saying that it’s “time we take the megaphone back” from them.
McConaughey recounted his reaction to hearing about the shooting at a school in Uvalde, Texas, where he grew up and his experience pushing for new gun legislation in response.
A gunman armed with an AR-15-style rifle shot and killed 19 children and two adults at Robb Elementary School in May.
He wrote that he and his wife, Camila, also met with dozens of lawmakers in Washington, D.C., to tell them what they saw when they visited Uvalde and why new regulations were needed.
McConaughey said he learned a lot from his time in D.C. to share the victims’ stories and push for change. He said most Americans are not on the political fringes, are reasonable and responsible and share more values than they realize.
“That’s why it’s high time we take the megaphone back from the extremists who’ve been manufacturing these false fractures among us,” McConaughey wrote.
A group of 20 senators from both parties led by Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) announced an agreement on a framework for gun legislation in June, less than a week after McConaughey met with the lawmakers.
The legislation, which Congress passed and President Biden signed later that month, was the first federal gun legislation that Congress passed in years.
It enacted a range of measures like increasing background checks for gun buyers under 21 years old, providing funding to help states implement red flag laws to take firearms away from those deemed a threat to themselves or others and making obtaining a firearm through straw purchases or trafficking a federal offense.
McConaughey said the legislation will not solve “everything,” but it moves the issue in the right direction.
“When we spoke to the families in the wake of the bill’s passage, they expressed gratitude. It won’t bring their kids back, but it does make them feel like, to some extent, their government finally listened,” he said.
He said political parties are often consumed by opposing and despising the opposition, causing many politicians to lose sight of their values and giving power to those on the fringe.
McConaughey said extremists have been selling “soft porn at the pep rally” to rile people up for too long.
“It’s time to kick them off the port and starboard sides of the boat on which American democracy sails . . . or at least relegate them to mopping the deck,” he said.