Hollywood actor Matt Damon used a press conference in Australia over the Fourth of July weekend to discuss his desire for a massive confiscation of U.S. guns.
“You guys did it here in one fell swoop [in 1996] and I wish that could happen in my country, but it’s such a personal issue for people that we cannot talk about it sensibly,” Mr. Damon said during a promotional engagement in Sydney for the movie “Jason Bourne.”
The action star went on to say people get too “emotional” when it comes to “not selling AK47s to people on terror watchlists.”
Mr. Damon also discussed the Dec. 12, 2012, massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, where 20-year-old Adam Lanza stole his mother’s legal weapons, killed her and then did the same to 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
“Obviously, mass shootings aren’t going to do it. There have been so many of them at this point. Sandy Hook, when those children were murdered, if that didn’t do it, you know, I just don’t know. Maybe we just need to evolve further before we can have that conversation, I don’t know,” Mr. Damon said, the Sydney Morning Herald reported Sunday.
“Jason Bourne” is not the only high-profile action star who has made pleas for gun control since the terrorist attack in Orlando, Florida, on June 12 that killed 49 and wounded 43 others.
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Chris Evans, who plays Captain America in Marvel Studios’ popular superhero films, tweeted on June 22, “We need common sense gun reform. And to be clear, NO ONE IS TAKING AWAY GUNS! Just looking for COMMON SENSE reform.”
Universal Pictures’ “Jason Bourne,” the fifth film in the franchise, opens in theaters in North America on July 29. The film is directed and produced by Paul Greengrass.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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