Matthew McConaughey Tells Stories of Children Killed in Uvalde Massacre at Heartwrenching White House Briefing

Matthew McConaughey delivered an emotional speech to reporters at the White House press briefing, during which he highlighted the victims of the Uvalde school shooting.

McConaughey joined White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at Tuesday’s briefing, first calling for “real change” after more than 20 people were killed at a shooting in his hometown of Uvalde, Texas.

After calling for a bipartisan conversation on gun responsibility, McConaughey highlighted his simultaneous support for the Second Amendment.

The actor shared that Uvalde is where he was “taught to revere the power and the capability of the tool that we call a gun,” adding, “Uvalde is where I learned responsible gun ownership.”

McConaughey grew increasingly emotional as he shined a spotlight on the children killed in the elementary school shooting, sharing the dreams and aspirations they never had the opportunity to chase.

He recalled touching moments from his visit to Uvalde after the shooting, sharing stories he heard while meeting with family members of the victims.

Then there was Ellie Garcia, a 10-year-old, and her parents, Steven and Jennifer. Ellie loved to dance and she loved church. She even knew how to drive tractors and was already working with her dad and her uncle mowing yards. Ellie was always giving of her gifts, her time, even half-eaten food on her plate, they said. ‘Around the house, we called her the great regifter.’ Smiling through tears, her family told us how Ellie loved to embrace, said she was the biggest hugger in the family. And Ellie was born catholic, but had been going to Baptist church with her uncle for the last couple of years. Her mom and dad were proud of her because they said she was learning to love God no matter where.

McConaughey shared that Garcia had plans to read a verse from the Bible for a Church service the Wednesday after the Uvalde shooting. She, of course, never got a chance to read it.

He later pointed to 10-year-old victim Maite Yuleana Rodriguez, sharing that her mother declined the city’s offer to release balloons in her memory as Rodriguez cared so much for the environment, she “wouldn’t want to litter.”

“Maite wore green high-top Converse with a heart she had hand-drawn on the right toe because they represented her love of nature. Camila’s got these shoes,” he added, pointing to his wife Camila Alves, who was holding the shoes.

“Wore these every day. Green Converse with a heart on the right toe. These are the same green Converse on her feet that turned out to be the only clear evidence that could identify her after the shooting,” he added before slamming the podium. “How about that.”

He shared the “the fairy tale love story of a teacher named Irma and her husband, Joe,” who had aspirations to buy a food truck together once they retired:

Both worked overtime to support their four kids. Irma even worked every summer when school was out. The money she had made two summers ago paid to paint the front of the house. The money she made last summer paid to paint the sides of the house. This summer’s work was going to pay to paint the back of the house.

Because Irma was one of the teachers who was gunned down in the classroom, Joe, her husband, literally died of heartache the very next day, when he had a heart attack. They never got to paint the back of their house. They never got to retire. And they never got to get that food truck together.

After honoring several other victims, the actor went on to stress a need for “reasonable, practical” and “tactical” gun reform, calling on people to “honor our immortal obligations instead of our party affiliations.”

He reiterated the points made in an impassioned column he wrote for Austin American-Statesman, titled, “It’s Time to Act on Gun Responsibility.”

McConaughey pushed the need to pass laws that do not infringe on Second Amendment rights yet work to stop mass shootings.

“We start by making the loss of these lives matter,” he concluded.

Watch above, via CNN.