James Gunn wants people to stop blaming Hollywood for gun violence.
In a thread on Twitter, the “Guardians of the Galaxy” director slammed right-wing website Breitbart News for a tweet about Matthew McConaughey’s recent White House address advocating for common-sense gun-control legislation in the wake of the Uvalde school shooting.
READ MORE: Matthew McConaughey Calls For Stricter Gun Control During White House Press Briefing
“Star Trek” actor George Takei had originally shared a screenshot of the Breitbart tweet, which noted that McConaughey “has used 19 guns in 11 movies over 25 years, according to the Internet Movie Firearms Database.”
“What’s your damn point?” Takei had asked, to which Gunn responded that the Breitbart tweet was an attempted distraction.
“There are violent stories & video games in most every country in the world,” Gunn wrote. “But only in the US is it harder to sell a donut than a gun.”
He added, “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
Gunn continued his thread by responding to another Twitter user who had brought up last year’s accidental fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film “Rust”.
Calling that situation “a case of mind-boggling incompetence on nearly everyone’s part” that “resulted in the only death from a firearm on a set in years,” Gunn noted that, in that incident’s wake, the film industry has endeavoured “to make sets safer through increased regulations.”
“Over 1500 children & adults have died from US mass shootings since 2009,” he added.
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
Gunn also responded to another user who said that over 60 per cent of gun owners in America are reported to have trained with their weapon “in some capacity,” pointing out how bad that statistic would sound if it were applied to driving cars, doing surgery, or flying airplanes.
Nineteen children and two teachers were killed in the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24. The shooter, who also shot and injured his grandmother before carrying out the attack on the school, was fatally shot by police.
