Former It Girl Lady Victoria Hervey has revealed she carries a gun in the US and will not give it up despite the Uvalde atrocity.
The British socialite who lives in LA – and is today pictured practising at a firing range – told the Sunday Mirror: “I believe we should be able to have guns. It makes me feel safer.”
She said the Texas killing of 19 children and two teachers was “terrible” but claimed that a ban would lead to “genocide” in America.
She bought a Glock 19 pistol, once standard issue for LA cops, last November. She said: “It’s terrifying what is happening in Hollywood. The amount of people I know who have had a home invasion and survived because they had a gun.”
Lady Victoria claimed more “concealed carry” gun licences were being given out in California as “police are encouraging people to be able to defend themselves”.
But she added: “They need to make things stricter so guns don’t fall into the wrong hands.”
She spoke out after Hollywood actor Matthew McConaughey, raised in Uvalde, pleaded for gun control laws in a White House speech on Tuesday.
The Oscar-winner called for better background checks and raising the minimum age to buy the AR-15-style rifle used in the shooting from 18 to 21.
Lady Victoria said she backed his plea but argued Americans should be able to protect themselves.
“I think the age limit to own a gun should be higher and there should be very strict medical background checks.
“I know people with guns who think the shooting was awful but they see it as unfortunately something that’s happened and the probability is not that high compared to other things that kill us that are not being banned.
“There are way more people dying every year from heart disease than guns. The chances of someone being shot in school is not that high.”
She added: “To take away that right [to carry guns] could be disastrous. It could lead to mass genocide if the government was to go to war against its people.”
She said LA was now so dangerous “I’m moving to Florida. I bought a gun as I was hearing so many awful stories”. In our exclusive snaps, she can be seen using her Glock at a shooting range.
“I’ve never had to use my gun and hopefully I won’t have to,” she said. “But I know people who have and it has saved their lives.”
More than 730 people have been shot dead in the US since Uvalde on May 24. They include 23 young children and 66 teenagers, according to the Gun Violence Archive. It says 8,576 have died in gun murders, robberies and accidents this year.
