Vince Vaughn is sharing his thoughts on gun control, a topic the world now knows he is quite passionate about.
In an interview with British GQ for its July issue, the 45-year-old "True Detective" actor admitted that he supports the Second Amendment and the right of Americans to own guns. Vaughn argued that banning guns would be like "banning forks in an attempt to stop making people fat."
"I support people having a gun in public full stop, not just in your home," he said. "We don't have the right to bear arms because of burglars; we have the right to bear arms to resist the supreme power of a corrupt and abusive government. It's not about duck hunting; it's about the ability of the individual.
"It's the same reason we have freedom of speech. It's well known that the greatest defense against an intruder is the sound of a gun hammer being pulled back. All these gun shootings that have gone down in America since 1950, only one or maybe two have happened in non-gun-free zones."
Vaughn's stance on the right to carry firearms doesn't stop there. The "Wedding Crashers" star added that mass shootings have "only happened in places that don't allow guns" and are constructed by "people that are sick in the head" who are "looking to slaughter defenseless human beings."
When asked if guns should be allowed in schools, the actor said that not having guns on campus leaves an open door for "monsters" to kill others. Events such as the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut that left 20 children and six staff members dead continues to haunt the U.S. and has brought on a number of gun control debates.
"You think the politicians that run my country and your country don't have guns in the schools their kids go to? They do," he said. "And we should be allowed the same rights. Banning guns is like banning forks in an attempt to stop making people fat. Taking away guns, taking away drugs, the booze, it won't rid the world of criminality."
In addition to his comments about gun control, the actor also expressed his views on Edward Snowden, the former CIA agent and NSA whistleblower who leaked classified materials from the NSA to the press.
"I like what he did," Vaughn shared. "My idea of treason is that you sell secrets to the enemy. He gave information to the American people. Snowden didn't take information for money or dogmas. Governments claim to write endless laws to protect us, a law for this, a law for that, but are they working? I don't think so.
"The consequences are that there is a staggering loss of freedom for the individual. I look at the drug wars and they are absolutely f***ing ridiculous. There is a black market and the prisons are overcrowded and it's not preventing drug use. There's a corruption that goes all the way to the top."
Vaughn is starring alongside Colin Farrell and Rachel McAdams in the second season of HBO's "True Detective."
