“The Normal Heart” star Mark Ruffalo thinks any debate about gun control lingering in the wake of America’s most recent mass shooting tragedy, Elliot Rodger’s UCSB rampage, is “completely outrageous.”
“I don’t know how many more of these are going to happen before we start to act like adults, instead of running around like a bunch of selfish children because there’s some sort of machismo connected with the idea of having militarized weaponry sitting in your closet,” Ruffalo told TheWrap during an interview for an upcoming issue of EmmyWrap magazine. “It’s just ridiculous. And our kids are paying the price.”
Also read: Portrait of a Psychopath: UCSB Shooter Elliot Rodger a Child of Hollywood, Privilege, Isolation
“And for what? What are we going to do with all of this weaponry? Are we going to declare war on our military? Where does it lead, and where does it end? It’s just an escalation,” Ruffalo continued. “Next people are going to be, ‘Well, I need a rocket launcher because that dude’s using a rocket launcher over there’ It keeps going on and on and on. And the writing’s on the wall. It’s going to come to a head.”
Ruffalo, perhaps better known to mainstream movie audiences as The Hulk in Marvel’s “Avengers” franchise, will next be seen on the big screen in “Foxcatcher,” a wrestling drama that ends in deadly gun violence.
See video: Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo Hoist Bennett Miller Into the Air at Cannes’ ‘Foxcatcher’ Premiere
Ruffalo stars as real-life Olympic wrestler David Schultz, who was murdered by his brother’s wrestling mentor John du Pont. Steve Carell takes a career-defining turn as du Pont, and Channing Tatum co-stars as Schultz’s brother, Mark.
“I don’t know how many more kids are going to have to die before we have a serious adult discussion about how to best handle these problems,” Ruffalo said.
Also read: To Prevent the Next UCSB, Talk to Someone You Hate — #YesAllHumans
Rodger, the son of a “Hunger Games” second unit director, stabbed two roommates and one other young man to death in his apartment last Friday before shooting and killing three others around the campus of U. of California Santa Barbara. Rodger wounded at least a dozen other people before taking his own life.
Steve Pond contributed to this report.