AUSTIN, Texas — Actor and Uvalde native Matthew McConaughey wrote an essay for Esquire calling for stricter gun regulations following the May mass shooting at Robb Elementary School that killed 19 students and two teachers.
"Our firearm policy is failing us, and we are failing it," McConaughey wrote in the piece, which was published on Tuesday.
McConaughey’s essay advocates for raising the minimum age to buy an assault rifle to 21, mandatory gun safety training and stronger background checks.
Many of the Uvalde victims’ families have called for raising the minimum age to buy semi-automatic rifles like the one used in the shooting. Parents held a press conference last month with Democratic candidate for Texas governor Beto O’Rourke, urging Gov. Greg Abbott to call a special legislative session to raise the age.
McConaughey has continued to call for similar measures following the tragedy. In June, the actor penned an op-ed for the Austin American-Statesman calling for what he calls “gun responsibility.”
After visiting with families in Uvalde, McConaughey made a trip to the White House and delivered an emotional speech calling on Congress to pass gun reform measures.
In his Esquire essay, the actor revealed that in the weeks following his White House speech, he spent his time calling U.S. senators he had met on his trip, aiming to get support from 10 Republicans needed to pass gun reform legislation.
That bill, which had the support of 15 Senate Republicans, was signed into law in late June. But McConaughey said it is only a first step.
“We’d done our best to make their lives matter,” he wrote.
PEOPLE ARE ALSO READING: