Despite Matthew McConaughey delivering a powerful and emotional speech calling for bipartisan, common-sense gun laws following the mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, it was back to politics as usual as Republicans quickly began to attack the actor for daring to suggest even the slightest restrictions on gun ownership. Well, Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn isn’t having it.
While piggybacking on a tweet from iconic Star Trek actor George Takei, Gunn slammed right-wingers for trying to distract from McConaughey’s urgent message by calling him a hypocrite for starring in movies with guns.
“I think their point is, ‘Look over there!! Hollywood!’” Gunn tweeted. “There are violent stories & video games in most every country in the world. But only in the US is it harder to sell a donut than a gun. Stop conflating fictional guns in movies with common sense gun legislation.”
I think their point is, “Look over there!! Hollywood!” There are violent stories & video games in most every country in the world. But only in the US is it harder to sell a donut than a gun. Stop conflating fictional guns in movies with common sense gun legislation. https://t.co/N3P1gsRVR9
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) June 8, 2022
The Suicide Squad director was just getting warmed up. Gunn expanded on his initial tweet by swatting down conservatives who were attempting to use the accidental shooting on the set of Rust as some sort of “Gotcha!”
“Rust, a case of mind-boggling incompetence on nearly everyone’s part, resulted in the only death from a firearm on a set in years,” Gunn tweeted. “The film industry leapt to make sets safer through increased regulations. Over 1500 children & adults have died from US mass shootings since 2009.”
Gunn wrapped up his thread by pointing out the hilarious and dangerous reality of a statistic tossed out by one Twitter user that 60 percent of gun owners are trained to handle specific firearms.
“As if we’d be proud of, ‘Over 60% of drivers received training before getting on the highway’ or ‘Over 60% of surgeons have gone to medical school’ or ‘Over 60% of airline pilots have flown a plane at least once,’” Gunn wrote.
The poster below posted this as if this is a good thing. As if we’d be proud of, “Over 60% of drivers received training before getting on the highway” or “Over 60% of surgeons have gone to medical school” or “Over 60% of airline pilots have flown a plane at least once.” https://t.co/SB3HtYdNLy
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) June 8, 2022
While Gunn did an expert job shutting down right-wing attacks on McConaughey, unfortunately, these exchanges mark an unfortunate return to how these situations routinely play out following a mass shooting. Good on McConaughey for trying to break through the noise and push for something to actually happen this time around, but judging by the reactions, Republicans still seems hesitant to anger their gun-loving base.
(Via James Gunn on Twitter)