Matthew McConaughey has praised a bipartisan approach to gun control in the Senate.
The Senate presented the framework of a bipartisan response to last month’s deadly shootings on Sunday, a significant step forward that includes modest gun restrictions as well as increased efforts to improve school safety and mental health services.
After 19 children and two teachers were killed in his hometown of Uvalde, Texas, McConaughey appeared at the White House to call on Congress to ‘reach a higher ground.’ He expressed his support for the framework.
“Something” has happened for the first time in 30 years. On Instagram, McConaughey said, “The Senate has agreed on a bipartisan framework of policies that can promote gun stewardship in America and save lives.”
“Something” has been done to try to stop some of the insane people who abuse and hijack the second amendment with every awful incident.’
McConaughey went on to thank the bipartisan committee of senators who drafted the framework, which he said could potentially save the lives of innocent people.
He highlighted the initiative by the Republican senators who worked alongside Democrats to find a middle ground in the highly politicized issue of gun control
The actor said he was hopeful that the joint effort would reverberate in the House of Representatives.
‘There is still a lot of hard work for both parties, so let’s continue to encourage everyone at the table to act in good faith and give them our support to get this job done.’
Biden said in a statement that the framework ‘does not do everything that I think is needed, but it reflects important steps in the right direction, and would be the most significant gun safety legislation to pass Congress in decades.
‘There are no excuses for delay, and no reason why it shouldn’t get through the Senate and the House soon,’ he said, citing bipartisan support.
Leaders seek to enact any accord quickly, ideally this month, before the political momentum generated by the recent mass killings in Buffalo and Uvalde disappears.
Participants warned that final details and legislative language are still being worked on, which might lead to further disagreements and delays.
In a significant move, 20 senators, including ten Republicans, issued a statement urging approval of the bill.
That could be critical because the measure’s largest roadblock will almost certainly be the 50-50 Senate, where at least 10 GOP votes will be required to reach the regular 60-vote passage threshold.
Last week, McConaughey delivered a deeply personal 22-minute statement in which he urged Congress to approve gun laws that would save lives without jeopardizing Second Amendment rights.
McConaughey, a gun owner, utilized his celebrity to make a point, establishing a strong connection to the small Texas community and graphically describing the tragic loss of 19 students and two instructors in the country’s second-worst mass school shooting.
He explicitly requested that Congress strengthen background checks for gun transactions and raise the minimum age to buy an AR-15-style rifle from 18 to 21 years old.
‘We want secure and safe schools,’ McConaughey added, adding that “we want gun regulations that don’t make it so simple for the bad folks to obtain the darn firearms.”
McConaughey, who pondered running for governor of Texas earlier this year but decided against it, spoke briefly with President Joe Biden in private before addressing the White House press corps from the James Brady briefing room.