Trace Adkins, one of several country artists standing by the NRA.
Despite the hellish events in Las Vegas last week — at a country music festival — country artists remain adamantly opposed to gun control. In fact, very little has changed in the country music world.
In the wake of the worst mass-shooting in US history, country artist Caleb Keeter reversed his position on gun control. It took a mass shooting involving hundreds of victims to convince him that unfettered gun access and absolute 2nd Amendment protections might be the wrong path.
Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland also joined the call for more gun control. And we’ve learned of a two country artists that have quietly severed their ties with the NRA since the Vegas tragedy.
But for the most part, country artists are either saying nothing or standing firm in their support of the NRA and 2nd Amendment. And there’s a die-hard coalition that isn’t backing down.
In fact, a coalition of 37 artists are proudly listed on the NRA website, many posing with guns or NRA hats.
And of the 39 artists affiliated with ‘NRA Country,’ an NRA-sponsored support program for country artists, just two have left since Vegas.
Here are the 37 who remain ardent supporters:
- Trace Adkins
- Rodney Atkins
- Frankie Ballard
- Lee Brice
- The Swon Brothers
- Craig Campbell
- Luke Combs
- Easton Corbin
- Tyler Farr
- Colt Ford
- Kevin Fowler
- Lucas Hoge
- Angie Johnson
- Aaron Lewis
- LoCash
- Love and Theft
- Montgomery Gentry
- Justin Moore
- Craig Morgan
- Heidi Newfield
- Jon Pardi
- Eric Paslay
- Michael Ray
- Chase Rice
- Pete Scobell
- Granger Smith
- Big SMO
- Blackberry Smoke
- Tate Stevens
- Sunny Sweeney
- Josh Thompson
- Storme Warren
- Aaron Watson
- Drake White
- Chuck Wicks
- Hank Williams
- Gretchen Wilson
Rolling Stone reports that two artists removed themselves from the site after the massacre: Florida Georgia Line and Thomas Rhett. They said they have no ‘active relationship’ with the NRA, but were previously allied with the group.
Luke Combs also said he had no affiliation with the NRA, but still remains on the site (wearing the hat). Everyone else has been quiet, except for Love and Theft, who reaffirmed their support for the NRA.
These affiliations are part of a long relationship between the NRA and country artists. And they’re probably financial deals.
In fact, it’s widely believed that the NRA is paying all of these artists for their support. The result? A positive bridge to most of the states and audiences that the gun industry needs.
“It’s no secret,” the Director of NRA Country once remarked. “If you poll our members, they love country music.”
All of which may explain why Caleb Keeter didn’t start a trend. In fact, we’ve heard of a culture of fear affecting country music artists. Most are petrified of losing their audiences over political issues, similar to the fallout endured by the Dixie Chicks back in 2003.
“I just feel like you’re so censored as a country artist,” indie artist Megan Lindsey told the AP recently. She took a knee after performing the national anthem at an NFL football game. “I feel like the labels like to keep you that way. They don’t want you to speak out. They don’t want you to say things that would upset country music listeners.
“People worry about being Dixie Chick-ed.”
What we say: We need common sense gun control laws.
What they hear: Let’s take away everyone’s guns and melt them all into a giant statue of a football player kneeling.
That’s because we know it’s the REAL goal. BEFORE it backlashed on Democrats, they would make comments like that. AFTER the backlash, they came up with the ‘common sense gun control’ rhetoric. YOU may fall for that idiocy, but we don’t
people kill, guns do not. The problem with the left is they want all guns taken away…. just look at this article trying shame people who believe in the constitution. The right does not trust the left and with good reason…. the only people who get harmed by ‘gun control’ are people who follow the law.
There’s that ol’ slippery slope argument again. I’m sure there are some who would argue that civilians shouldn’t have guns. And it’s true that some countries have such laws, and they do seem to be making out okay. I’m not one of those people. I simply believe that owning a gun should be a privilege, rather than a right. It should be like a license to drive a car. It should be something where you have to take a course, take a test, not commit any felonies, things like that, to earn the privilege of owning guns. And you know, we still have plenty of fatal car accidents in this country. But imagine what it would be like if we didn’t have traffic laws and laws about drivers licenses. We need those laws for guns. Those people who follow the law, the vast majority of them would probably pass all the required tests, get to keep their guns, and have nothing to worry about.
Also, to your comment of “people kill, guns do not”. That’s right. It’s people that must be regulated, not guns. That’s what we’re talking about.
it you actually believe the overall goal isn’t to disarm average citizens, then you are blind as a bat.
I guess I’m just perplexed why this has to be all or nothing, right vs. left, etc. We now have an escalating issue of people getting mowed down in public events, with zero action to address it.
Why not have an intense background screening process, with certain types of weaponry strictly prohibited? Why does any civilian need an arsenal of 35 semi-automatic weapons.
Are the deer that hard to shoot? Of course not.
Exactly. Going back to the driver’s license argument, you don’t see all that many civilians driving armored tanks to work these days in your morning commute. Granted, there is are many factors there, in that tanks are somewhat expensive, slow, and difficult to park. But the reason you don’t see that is that lawmakers had the common sense to say, maybe civilians shouldn’t own tanks, we should probably make a law against that sort of thing. Maybe when a civilian gets a pilot’s license, we shouldn’t let them fly stealth bombers around. Same thing should apply to semi-automatic weapons.
Once you start down the path of restricting what law abiding citizens can do, you are advocating tyranny. Morons like you think that taking cars away from people who don’t drink will fix drunk driving fatalities. Not one peep out of you asshats about the hundreds of Americans killed by illegal aliens, some who have been deported multiple times. Liberal thinking is hysterics. Maybe lets start by finding out what is causing so many people to flip their lids.
I would like to add one thing… there is one legitimate concern that gun owners have. They want to be able to protect their family in a time of crisis. And that is a fair concern. If we can rely on the fire department to put out fires, why would we need fire extinguishers? There is a lot of scary shit out there. We watch shows like The Walking Dead, and while I don’t expect a zombie apocalypse to happen any time soon, a similar situation isn’t beyond the realm of possibility. We have natural disasters due to climate change. There are concerns about infectious diseases. North Korea could send a nuke our way, or blow one up in the atmosphere setting off an EMP that wipes out electricity. Any number of things can happen on a large scale that would hinder law enforcement’s ability to protect us, resulting in an increase in lawlessness and violence. And in those situations, yes, a civilian owning a gun to protect his/her family is probably a good idea.
So we don’t need to get rid of the guns. We just need to establish common sense gun control laws, in the same way we have laws about who gets to drive a car. Do you have a driver’s license? If so, your guns are probably going to be safe. If your license has been revoked, consider why that is, and what things you need to change in your life that caused that to happen, and change those things.
Leftist garbage. How about posting a list of all of the rappers who aren’t calling for stricter gun laws?
Yeah I agree – DMN why haven’t you posted the list of rappers who are listed in support of the NRA on their website? The people demand answers.
This “Is Not” music news…its political…stay out of it
Such Rubbish! No culture of fear! Leftists can’t believe that someone would actually believe in the rights that give leftists the right to say what they say…
These are not big stars. They are all lesser names.