Veteran actor and longtime GOP supporter Jon Voight broke with celebration traces on Saturday, insisting on "correct qualifications" for gun possession following Tuesday's lethal mass taking pictures at Robb Elementary Faculty in Uvalde, Texas.

"[We must] be sure that we by no means see this horror once more in our lifetime," Voight, a vocal and avid supporter of former President Donald Trump, mentioned in his video assertion, which has been seen over 92,000 occasions on social media as of Saturday morning. "We should determine each particular person for his or her credentials for his or her psychological capability to bear arms. There must be correct qualifications for gun possession. Correct testing. One ought to solely personal a gun in the event that they're certified and schooled."

Voight additionally provided condolences to the households of the 19 college students that had been killed within the taking pictures. Two lecturers additionally died throughout Tuesday's assault.

"I stand with all," he added. "I stand for the liberty of every soul's truths. I stand for God's truths. I stand for one to be condemned for evil doings, and that they have to pay a worth. Could God watch over all and convey consolation for this loss which can by no means heal, for every baby was so valuable."

Voight rose to prominence as an actor within the late Sixties and all through the Nineteen Seventies, with celebrated roles in movies like Midnight Cowboy, Deliverance, and Coming Dwelling, the latter of which received him the Academy Award for Greatest Actor. He'll subsequent seem among the many ensemble solid of The Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola's subsequent movie, Megalopolis. He's additionally notably the daddy of film star Angelina Jolie.

Voight publicly espoused liberal and anti-war sentiments early in his profession, however beginning within the late 2000s turned certainly one of Hollywood's most vocal conservative voices. He was an enthusiastic supporter of Trump, endorsing him in 2016 and 2020, later implying that Joe Biden had stolen the 2020 election following Trump's loss.

Actor Jon Voight on Gun Ownership
On this mixture picture, Actor Jon Voight, (L) stands with President Donald Trump after stepping out of the Oval Workplace of the White Home, Jan. 28, 2020. A memorial (Inset) for victims of Tuesday's mass taking pictures at Robb Elementary Faculty is seen on Could 27, 2022 in Uvalde, Texas.AP/Getty

Trump spoke at a convention for the Nationwide Rifle Affiliation (NRA) on Friday in Houston, the place he echoed the GOP declare that the right response to the Uvalde mass taking pictures wouldn't be gun management legal guidelines, however to "harden" faculties by heightening safety, arming lecturers, and lowering the variety of doorways.

"What we'd like now's a top-to-bottom safety overhaul at faculties all throughout our nation. Each constructing ought to have a single level of entry," he mentioned. "There must be sturdy exterior fencing, steel detectors, and using new expertise to guarantee that no unauthorized particular person can ever enter the college with a weapon."