Following the October 1 Vegas attack Josh Abbott Band guitarist Caleb Keeter came out in full support of gun control and is now being embraced by Tim McGraw’s gun control friends.
On April 14, 2015, Breitbart News reported that McGraw was using a summer concert to raise money for Sandy Hook Promise, a gun control group with which he is acquainted via his fiddler player’s relationship with Mark Barden. McGraw announced that “one-hundred percent of the net proceeds” of his 2015 summer concert would go to the gun control group.
Rolling Stone magazine laid down cover for McGraw’s funding for the gun control group by painting a picture of Sandy Hook Promise as benign, writing:
Sandy Hook Promise, whose mission statement is to “protect children from gun violence so no other parent experiences the loss of their child,” doesn’t see itself as an anti-gun organization. The NPO’s website lists mental wellness programs and “firearm safety and security” as its main areas of focus, even offering tips for proper gun storage (“Make sure your guns are stored unloaded and separate from ammunition”) in a downloadable PDF.
In reality, Sandy Hook Promise has been involved in promoting gun control in Oregon and opposing pro-gun rights in Georgia. And now they are standing by Caleb Keeter for demanding more gun control after the Vegas attack.
According to People, Barden urged Keeter not to be swayed by people who tell him he cannot be pro-gun control and pro-gun at one and the same time. Barden wrote, “you should be able to maintain your allegiance to the Second Amendment and advocate for sensible solutions that will reduce the number of gun tragedies that tear families apart every day in this country.” He then floated the idea of supporting Extreme Risk Protection Orders–versions of which are now in place in California, Oregon, and Washington state. These allow confiscation of firearms from people whom family members, co-workers, or others consider a threat. The orders can be issued without the gun owner even being present to argue in his own defense.
Barden did not explain how Extreme Risk Protection Orders–or any other law–could have prevent the Vegas attack, but he welcomed Keeter to the family of gun control proponents.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com