Mr. McConaughey goes to Washington

Matthew McConaughey came to Cockburn’s hometown of Washington, DC on Tuesday. It was not to say hi, of course, but to advocate for “commonsense gun control” at the White House. McConaughey is a Uvalde native and wanted to speak about the victims, as well as how the government might better regulate firearms.
McConaughey spoke about going back to Uvalde and talking to the families of the victims. He said, “We need background checks, 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…

Matthew McConaughey came to Cockburn’s hometown of Washington, DC on Tuesday. It was not to say hi, of course, but to advocate for “commonsense gun control” at the White House. McConaughey is a Uvalde native and wanted to speak about the victims, as well as how the government might better regulate firearms.

McConaughey spoke about going back to Uvalde and talking to the families of the victims. He said, “We need background checks, 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 who abuse them.”

He went on Bret Baier’s Fox News show that night to continue opining. “I’m not someone from the entertainment industry that decided to swing by for an open cause,” he said, adding, “It happened in the town I was born in, so it got very personal for me.”

While Cockburn is sympathetic to McConaughey’s argument, and to the families in Uvalde, there is no telling whether the laws McConaughey endorsed will make a difference or just compound America’s already tedious and complex gun regulations.

The Uvalde shooter was clearly mentally ill, which should have been enough to refuse him a firearm. Federal laws in Texas require background checks for non-private sellers. Texas law states:

A person is eligible for a license to carry a handgun if the person…is not incapable of exercising sound judgment with respect to the proper use and storage of a handgun… A person is incapable of exercising sound judgment with respect to the proper use and storage of a handgun if the person…has been diagnosed by a licensed physician as suffering from a psychiatric disorder or condition that causes or is likely to cause substantial impairment in judgment, mood, perception, impulse control, or intellectual ability.

Additionally, if McConaughey’s advice is followed, Democrats will leap on it and push for even more restrictive gun laws. It would be used as an opportunity to leave Americans less defended than they were before. Cockburn doubts that’s what McConaughey wants, though he does welcome him to Washington as a rare calm and sensible voice in these times.