This summer, actor Matt Damon may be reprising the role of Jason Bourne — the gun-toting, weapon-brandishing action hero — but his real-life views don’t necessarily fall in line with his character’s persona.
Case in point: While promoting Jason Bourne in Australia, Damon was candid about his thoughts on gun control both abroad and in his home country, the United States.
“You guys did it here in one fell swoop and I wish that could happen in my country, but it’s such a personal issue for people that we don’t, we cannot talk about it sensibly,” Damon told the website Stuff. “We just can’t.”
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“People get so emotional that even when you make a suggestion about not selling AK-47s to people on terror watch lists, that’s a non-starter. I don’t know what needs to happen.”
Twenty years ago, the Australian government outlawed automatic and semi-automatic rifles as well as pump-action shotguns after a mass shooting in Tasmania left 35 dead. The National Firearms Agreement is considered one of the strictest gun laws in the world, and since the agreement was enacted, there have been only four mass shootings in Australia.
Many pro-gun and conservative pundits attacked Damon, calling his comments hypocritical; the actor pulls in millions of dollars a year for his action-hero movies, where guns are glorified and used to kill.
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Jason Bourne hits theatres on July 29, 2016.
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