The White House press briefing room, a cramped and dingy corner of the West Wing, got a sprinkling of stardust on Tuesday afternoon when Hollywood A-lister Matthew McConaughey appeared at the podium. But the actor’s visit was far more sombre than the light-hearted glad-handing for which so many famous faces are seen at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
McConaughey was born in Uvalde, the South Texas town where an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two teachers in a horrifying primary school shooting two weeks ago. “Where do we start? We start by making the loss of these lives matter,” the actor said in an emotional plea for lawmakers in Washington to enhance gun safety laws.
