Sheryl Crow's Latest Single To Fund Her Anti-Gun Ideology

Photo courtesy of Larry Darling

It’s hard to find a way to enjoy entertainment without supporting someone who is probably anti-gun. However, most don’t make it clear that enjoying their work will fund anti-gun causes.

Advertisement

Sheryl Crow, however, crossed that line.

Sheryl Crow thought something was going to change after 26 children and staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School lost their lives nearly five years ago in Newtown, Connecticut.

Two months ago, on Oct. 1, Crow watched the news along with the rest of the country as the details surrounding the deaths of 58 people at the Route 91 Harvest Music festival in Las Vegas began to unfold.

“I have the same experience everyone does — complete and total devastation and disillusionment,” Crow tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview about the release of her new song, “The Dreaming Kind.”

Crow, a nine-time Grammy winner, is working in conjunction with Sandy Hook Promise — a nonprofit group co-founded by Mark Barden, whose son Daniel was killed in the Sandy Hook Tragedy. “The work of Sandy Hook Promise focuses on preventing gun violence before it starts,” he said in a statement.

The singer says her new track came together when she decided to work with Sandy Hook Promise to raise awareness and push forward gun regulation in regard to mental stability. “It seemed to give purpose to my writing,” Crow reveals.

“When Sandy Hook happened, we knew it was a life-changing moment where we were going to address the idea that not everyone should be approved to own a gun, especially military-style weaponry and yet, nothing happened,” she says. “At some point, the alarm clock has to go off and we have to wake up.”

Advertisement

Sheryl, Sheryl, Sheryl. Seriously?

An AR-15 is “military-style” only in so far as it happens to look like something the military uses. After all, here’s a gun that would have made it through almost every so-called “Assault weapon ban” that’s been proposed unscathed:

A mini-14 (photo courtesy of Jim Legans, Jr, via Flickr)

That mini-14 isn’t what most consider a military-style rifle…yet it fires the same round as an AR-15, uses detachable magazines, and otherwise functions in a very similar manner.

In other words, this could have just as easily been the weapon used for these mass shootings…but it wasn’t.

When celebrities open their mouths to do something other than regurgitating line or sing a song, they often betray their lack of understanding of the topic at hand. In this case, by worrying about “military-style” weapons when “style” is irrelevant.

While Crow is certainly entitled to her opinion, she forgets that she produces a product for consumption by a public that has repeatedly responded poorly to gun control efforts. In other words, by making it clear of her ties to gun control efforts, she’s telling every pro-gun American to not bother with her music anymore.

Advertisement

Now, she hasn’t put out anything in a long time I actually cared about, but she’s made it absolutely clear that she doesn’t have any desire for my money. After all, if she did, she’d at least do me the courtesy of at least pretending my gun rights mattered, even if by not expressly admitting that she doesn’t care one bit for them.

But then again, Crow seems to believe that her feelings are universal. As she told The Guardian:

“You would think after Vegas we would see some leadership from our country community,” Crow told the Guardian. “But all I can say about that is if there’s money involved, and fear, these conversations come to a screeching halt.

“There’s no one that I know of in the popular country world that is willing to step out and really to take a stand on this, and that’s really unfortunate.

“I hope there will be people who find a way out of their fear, who stick up for humanity as opposed to sticking with their fanbase or the money that can come along with having those large crowds.”

Sheryl, let me make this simple for you. You’re a performer. Your job is to sing and entertain people.

If you don’t “stick with your fanbase,” as you put it, guess what’s going to happen? People simply aren’t going to spend their hard-earned money with you. Instead, they’ll spend it on entertainers who don’t take a dump on the things that matter to them.

Advertisement

Again, it’s not that Sheryl Crow isn’t entitled to her opinions. However, the rest of us are entitled to ours, and since most of the country music fans tend to be pretty conservative and, by extension of that, pro-gun, spouting off about your anti-gun rage is probably not going to encourage me to maintain a favorable opinion.

I’m just saying.

 

 

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Advertisement
Advertisement