Actor Matthew McConaughey used an Austin American-Stateman op-ed to push for more gun control as an “acceptable sacrifice” in the wake of high-profile, firearm-based shootings in the U.S.
His first recommended gun control is an expansion of background checks. The Magic Mike star wrote, “All gun purchases should require a background check.”
Background checks have been conducted on every retail sale in the U.S. since 1998. When gun control proponents talk of expanding them to cover “all gun purchases” they are suggesting an expansion to cover private sales as well. However, mass public shooters rarely get their guns from private sales. Mass shooters actually almost always acquire their guns at retail via a background check.
For example, on May 30, 2022, the Associated Press listed 22 mass shootings, dating back to July 20, 2012, and sourced the guns in each shooting to find they were acquired via a background check in every instance but one.
Breitbart News has long kept a running tally of the high-profile mass shootings of the last 15 years, and every attacker but three got his guns via a background check. Two of the three who avoided background checks–the Clackamus Town Center attacker (December 11, 2012) and the Sandy Hook attacker (December 14, 2012)–stole their guns, so no amount of point-of-sale gun checks would have stopped them. Only one individual, the Midland, Texas, attacker (August 31, 2019), acquired his gun via a private sale.
Matthew McConaughey speaks during a March for Our Lives gun control rally in Austin, Texas. (YouTube)
McConaughey’s second gun-control suggestion is to raise the minimum purchase age for AR-15, AK-57, and other Democrat-described “assault weapons” to 21. The Ninth Circuit struck down this very gun control in California earlier this month. Ninth Circuit Judge Ryan Nelson noted,
“(T)he Second Amendment protects the right of young adults to keep and bear arms, which includes the right to purchase them.”
Matthew McConaughey is crime boss Mickey Pearson in The Gentlemen. (STX Films/Miramax)
McConaughey’s third gun control proposal is red flag laws. California has a red flag law, as does Illinois and New York, yet California lead the nation in “Active Shooter Incidents,” Chicago, Illinois, is rife with gun violence, and NY’s law did not prevent the April 3 NYC subway attack nor the May 14, 2022, Buffalo shooting.
McConaughey’s fourth gun control suggestion is a waiting period on the purchase of firearms which Democrats describe as “assault weapons.”
He wrote:
Individuals often purchase weapons in a fit of rage, harming themselves or others. Studies show that mandatory waiting periods reduced homicides by 17 percent. Gun suicides account for the majority of U.S. gun deaths. A waiting period to purchase an assault rifle is an acceptable sacrifice for responsible gun owners when it can prevent a mass shooting crime of passion or suicide.
California has a 10-day waiting period on gun purchases and Illinois has a 72-hour waiting period. The Public Policy Institute of California reports that “mass shootings” are an ongoing problem in California and ABC 7 / Chicago Sun-Times noted at least 28 people were shot in Chicago over the weekend.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. Reach him at
