Matthew McConaughey made his stance on gun control clear in conversation with host Jonathan Karl on ABC's "This Week." The actor discussed the launch of his new grant program to address school safety issues and foster safer learning environments following last year's mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Called the Greenlights Grant Initiative, McConaughey's project is described as "a first-of-its-kind, non-partisan program" that "is focused on helping school districts apply for and receive federal school safety grants." Specific funding includes resources for mental health services, school security systems and "other common-sense measures to ensure our kids can learn in peace."
This comes in the wake of increased questioning about his possible career in politics. When asked by Karl if he could see himself running for office, McConaughey said, "There's a great question that I'm still answering. As of right now, to be a private citizen with my wife and to come up with an idea like the Greenlights Grant Initiative — to work with the government publicly to help them, not doing the job for them, helping them pull off what they set out to do in the first place — there is an argument that that's more useful, what I'm doing right now, in a small way.
"No one wants to be controlled. But responsibility is still something that we can all go, 'Yeah, I'll take responsibility,'" he said about the divisiveness of gun control, and added, "The Second Amendment defenders could talk responsibility. They could look you in the eye and talk responsibility with someone from the other side of the aisle."
