'600 Miles' Star Kristyan Ferrer Talks Gun Smuggling, Shares Gun Control POV After Shooting Film [EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW]

In Gabriel Ripstein’s “600 Miles,” Kristyan Ferrer plays Arnulfo Rubio, “who is just another victim in a system that doesn’t seem to be working in our country [Mexico]. His own family forces him into the business, but he is just another human being looking for what every other human being is looking for, to be loved and accepted. And he knows that the only way to achieve this is trafficking these guns,” according to Ferrer.

The film follows Arnulfo’s every day routine as a gun smuggler. But in an unfortunate turn of events, the inexperienced young criminal kidnaps ATF agent Hank Harris (Tim Roth) after he attempts to arrest him during one of his exchanges. The plot continues as a strange relationship develops between Rubio and Harris on the 600-miles-long drive to Mexico, where the kid plans to turn the agent in to his bosses.

“Most of the information I got through Gabriel [Ripstein],” says Ferrer about his preparation and research for the role. “He did a lot of the work. He went to ATF agencies, talked to border patrol, went to these stores in the U.S. where they sell guns, and he understood the whole process of acquiring them. He told me that he would see all these people come in and buy guns as if they were peanuts,” the 20-year-old actor commented in awe.

Ferrer added that he watched a lot of documentaries on the subject and was impressed with the lack of fear that these criminals showed during the interviews, “They would bluntly say ‘Yes, I pay someone there and he sells me the guns. Then I just hide them in my truck and cross back. Reporters would ask them ‘And you don’t get scared?’ and they would reply ‘No. They don’t even ask me anything. They have never searched my car either.’ Right there and then was when I knew who to approach this character.”

When we asked the “Gutan Tag, Ramón” star what was his opinion on stereotypes, gun control and the ongoing debate “Guns don’t kill people. People do,” he eloquently expressed an opinion that should be an eye-opener for both, Americans and Mexicans. “There are no heroes and villains in this equation. I think we are dealing with human beings that are being exposed to limit situations, and this is what we are trying to convey with the movie. There has to be co-responsibility between both countries [U.S.A and Mexico]. One needs to take responsibility for selling the arms, and the other one for allowing organized crime to bring them into the country. With this movie w are not trying to say who are the good guys, and who are they bad guys. It’s more like ‘What can we do about gun trafficking moving forward?’”

Ferrer concluded the interview by stating that he “couldn’t really give a concrete answer” on the “Guns don’t kill people. People do” discussion, but commented that he thought it was “ironic that people would ask for an ID when buying cigarettes but not always when it came to buying guns.”