On Friday, Matthew McConaughey came to his birthplace of Uvalde, Texas, to console the people still hurting from the school massacre on Tuesday.
The 52-year-old actor paid a visit to the Uvalde school district’s employees and was pictured with them inside their offices.
Kay McConaughey, a teacher at St. Philip’s Episcopal School in Uvalde, turned 90 in January and lived with her son during the epidemic.
Her school, which McConaughey attended, is only a mile from Robb Elementary, where 19 children and two teachers were murdered on Tuesday.
McConaughey did not address the public during his visit, but was accompanied by Republican Representative Tony Gonzalez, who thanked him for coming.
‘Thank you Matthew for helping to heal our community,’ Gonzalez tweeted on Friday.
‘Your visit brought so many smiling faces to Uvalde. See you soon my friend.’
Appreciate Uvalde native Matthew McConaughey helping us heal,’ he said.
‘This week was a solemn reminder that evil exists in the world, but we will never let it break us.
‘We’ll unite to be an even more powerful reminder that love never fails & together we can change things.’
Gonzalez, a staunch defender of the Second Amendment, has previously tweeted with pride about blocking gun control measures.
McConaughey’s own views are more nuanced: while he was weighing up a run for governor, which he called off in November, he was diplomatic about his position.
In March 2018, he addressed the gun control March For Our Lives in Austin, where he lives, and said he supported restrictions on who could buy firearms.
A month later, McConaughey says he supports some gun control but fears the youth-led March For Our Lives movement could be ‘hijacked’ by those hoping to eliminate all guns in the United States.
On Wednesday, McConaughey once again said there needed to be change.
‘As Americans, Texans, mothers and fathers, it’s time we re-evaluate, and renegotiate our wants from our needs,’ the actor said.
‘We have to rearrange our values and find a common ground above this devastating American reality that has tragically become our children’s issue.
‘This is an epidemic we can control, and whichever side of the aisle we may stand on, we all know we can do better. We must do better.’
