Vaughn talked with the New York Times about his background, revealing that his maternal grandfather was an Italian immigrant with very little formal education. “He worked as a pawn shop broker and a jeweler,” Vaughn said.
The actor described his grandfather on his father’s side as “a sharecropper and a steelworker [who] had a hundred-acre farm.”
Vaughn pointed out that his father was the first in the family to attend college.
“Then I kind of ascended from growing up in apartments and ended up in an upper-class suburb. So I had a lot of exposure to different things and different world views,” he said.
“Do you think the extremes of your background influenced your politics?” the NYT asked Vaughn.
Vaughn confirmed that he identifies as a Libertarian, stating, “Yes, I definitely am a believer more in allowing individuals to make choices. So I think that drugs should be legal and people should have guns.”
He acknowledged that people have strong opinions about firearm ownership, but he explained that he sees drugs and guns in a similar way.
“Like the hippies would get high and say, We’re not hurting anyone, what’s the big deal? Then the hunters would say, we have these guns, and we have a right to defend ourselves, and what’s the big deal? And they were kind of the same,” Vaughn said.
In 2015, Vaughn expressed support for arming school staff to protect children, advocating that firearms could be used for their defense.
“You think the politicians that run my country and your country don’t have guns in the schools their kids go to? They do. And we should be allowed the same rights. Banning guns is like banning forks in an attempt to stop making people fat,” Vaughn said.
Share your thoughts by scrolling down to leave a comment.
