Matthew McConaughey calls for action after hometown school massacre: 'This is an epidemic we can control'

Academy Award-winning actor Matthew McConaughey called for an end to gun violence in the wake of a mass shooting that left 19 students and two teachers dead in his hometown of Uvalde, Texas.

The “Dallas Buyers Club” actor posted a statement on Instagram on Tuesday urging Americans to ask themselves "what small sacrifices can we individually take today, to preserve a healthier and safer nation, state, and neighborhood tomorrow?” following reports of a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in his hometown.

"As you all are aware, there was another mass shooting today, this time in my hometown of Uvalde, Texas. Once again, we have tragically proven that we are failing to be responsible for the rights our freedoms grant us," McConaughey's statement began.

"We cannot exhale once again, make excuses, and accept these tragic realities as the status quo," he continued.

McConaughey said it's time to "re-evaluate, and renegotiate our wants from our needs" and "rearrange our values" to find common ground to change the "devastating American reality that has tragically become our children’s issue."

“This is an epidemic we can control, and whichever side of the aisle we may stand on, we all know we can do better. We must do better. Action must be taken so that no parent has to experience what the parents in Uvalde and the others before them have endured,” he added.