Matthew McConaughey

White House Press Secretary: Good afternoon, everyone. So, I'd like to welcome Matthew and Camila McConaughey to the White House today, to speak on an urgent issue our nation is currently facing. You may know Matthew as an actor, but more importantly, he is a father, a native of Uvalde, Texas, and a gun and a gun owner.

He is here today to use his platform to call on leaders to take bipartisan action to end the senseless killing and pass reasonable gun responsibility measures that we know will save lives. Just a few minutes ago, Matthew met briefly with the president to talk about the importance of of taking action, keeping our communities safe. But without further ado, I would like to bring up Matthew.

Matthew McConaughey: Thank you. White House Press Secretary: Here you go. Matthew McConaughey: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Camila. To make the loss of these lives matter.

My, wife and I my wife and I Camila, we spent most of last week on the ground with the families in Uvalde, Texas. We shared stories, tears, and memories. The common thread, independent of the anger and the confusion and the sadness, it was the same.

How can these families continue to honor these deaths by keeping the dreams of these children and teachers alive? Again, how can a loss of these lives matter? So while we honor and acknowledge the victims, we need to recognize that this time it seems that something is different.

There is a sense that perhaps there's a viable path forward. Responsible parties in this debate seem to at least be committed to sitting down and having a real conversation about a new and improved path forward, a path that can bring us closer together and make us safer as a country, a path that can actually get something done this time.

Camila and I came here to share my stories from my hometown of Uvalde, came here to take meetings with elected officials on both sides of the aisle.

We came here to speak to them, to speak with them, and to urge them to speak with each other, to remind and inspire them that the American people will continue to drive forward the mission of keeping our children safe because it's more than our right to do so, it's our responsibility to do so.

I'm here today in the hopes of applying what energy, reason, and passion that I have into trying to turn this moment into a reality. Because as I said, this moment is different. We are in a window of opportunity right now that we have not been in before, a window where it seems like real change, real change can happen.