Mike Bloomberg gun control affiliated Shannon Watts is trying to pressure the Grand Ole Opry into preventing Jason Aldean from headlining an August fundraiser, organized to raise money for the families and community of Covenant Christian School, where three children and three adults were slain on March 27, 2023.
Watts expressed her desire to prevent Aldean from headlining the fundraiser for the Christian families and community shortly after Aldean’s music video for “Try That in a Small Town” was pulled by CMT.
Breitbart News reported that CMT removed the video earlier this week. Watts responded by taking credit for CMT’s decision, tweeting, “Proud to have had a hand in getting CMT to reject this racist and violent song…”
Proud to have had a hand in getting CMT to reject this racist and violent song… https://t.co/6siOWPcYHM pic.twitter.com/vTMQFxNXOQ
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) July 19, 2023
Watts then targeted the plan to have Aldean headline the upcoming fundraiser for the Christian families and community, the Daily Mail quoted her tweeting, “The Grand Ole Opry is hosting Jason Aldean at a fundraiser for the Covenant School in Nashville. One would think there are many other country music artists they could invite instead?”
Breitbart News noted that one of Watts’ earliest reactions to the “Try That in a Small Town” video was her claim that the song is “about how [Aldean] and his friends will shoot you if you try to take their guns.”
In reality, the lyrics of Aldean’s song do not, at any point, talk about shooting people. Rather, they focus on rural Americans’ determination to never surrender their firearms.
Here are the pertinent lyrics from Aldean’s song:
GOT A GUN THAT MY GRANDDAD GAVE ME
THEY SAY ONE DAY THEY’RE GONNA ROUND UP
WELL THAT SHIT MIGHT FLY IN THE CITY GOOD LUCKTRY THAT IN A SMALL TOWN
SEE HOW FAR YOU MAKE IT DOWN THE ROAD
‘ROUND HERE WE TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN
YOU CROSS THAT LINE IT WON’T TAKE LONG
FOR YOU TO FIND OUT
I RECOMMEND YOU DON’T
TRY THAT IN A SMALL TOWN
Prior to focusing on Aldean, one of Shannon Watts most recent efforts was to push for background checks for gun sales in Texas, specifically for rifle sales.
On April 29, 2023, Breitbart News noted that Watts’ claim that there was no background check for long gun purchases in Texas. Breitbart News then pointed out that background checks for retail sales are a federal matter, required in every state, including Texas, for both long guns and handguns.
The FBI performs a National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) background check on every retail gun buyer, regardless of whether the gun they want to buy is new or used, and it does not matter whether it is a handgun or a long gun.
The process for undergoing the background check entails filling out an ATF form 4473, after which the Federal Firearms License holder (FFL) calls in the information to the FBI and a would-be purchaser’s criminal and mental background is checked.
NICS checks have been the law of the land since 1998.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.