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Artist News Gigs & Festivals
Rosanne Cash accuses the NRA of “funding domestic terrorism”
By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 4 October 2017
Rosanne Cash has written an opinion piece for the New York Times in the wake of the attack on the Route 91 Harvest festival. Calling on other country artists to support new gun control laws, she accuses the national Rifle Association of “funding domestic terrorism”.
She begins the piece by speaking about the irony of the death threats she receives whenever she speaks out against gun violence – not wanting people to die in mass shootings generally being equated to taking away one of the fundamental rights of US citizens by an portion of the American population.
“For the past few decades, the National Rifle Association has increasingly nurtured an alliance with country music artists and their fans”, she writes. “You can see it in ‘NRA Country’, which promotes the artists who support the philosophical, and perhaps economic, thrall of the NRA, with the pernicious tag line ‘Celebrate the Lifestyle'”.
“That wholesome public relations veneer masks something deeply sinister and profoundly destructive”, she adds. “There is no other way to say this: The NRA funds domestic terrorism”.
Referencing a vote in the House Of Representatives to loosen restrictions on gun silencers and armour-piercing bullets (which has been postponed in the wake of the Las Vegas attack), she says that the NRA spent millions of dollars attempting to influence the outcome of that ballot.
“If the proposed law had passed before the mass shooting in Las Vegas on Sunday, and the rifles in the assailant’s hotel room had been fitted with silencers, one could safely assume that the death toll would be much, much higher”, she writes. “Those who ran from the concert and survived did so because they heard the gunfire. None of that matters to the NRA”.
The NRA has been conspicuously silent since the attack on Sunday – its social media accounts falling completely quiet. Meanwhile, the campaign for greater gun control in the US has understandably ramped up. You can read Cash’s full article here.
In somewhat related news, country star Jason Aldean has announced that he is cancelling his scheduled shows this week. Aldean was performing as the final night headliner at Route 91 Harvest when the gunman opened fire, killing almost 60 people and injuring more than 500.
“It is the right thing to do”, he says in a statement. “It has been an emotional time for everyone involved this week, so we plan to take some time to mourn the ones we have lost”.
The tour is scheduled to restart in Tulsa, Oklahoma on 12 Oct.
