McGraw and Hill get tough

Photo: All rights reserved.

Tim McGraw & Faith Hill

Tim McGraw and Faith Hill are testing their conservative fan base by taking a stand against gun laws following a spate of recent shooting incidents.

The 58 victims of the Route 91 Harvest Festival massacre last month were remembered at the Country Music Association Awards in Nashville, Tennessee on Wednesday night as the couple, who performed during the ceremony, looked on and now Tim and Faith are making it clear they want new gun laws, so American civilians cannot buy military weapons.

Their stance will upset some of their gun-toting fans, who insist it's their right to bear arms, but McGraw insists he's not calling for a total ban - and plans to keep hunting himself.

"Look, I'm a bird hunter; I love to wing-shoot," he tells Billboard. "However, there is some common sense that's necessary when it comes to gun control.

"They (militant gun fans) want to make it about the Second Amendment every time it's brought up. It's not about the Second Amendment."

Hill adds, "In reference to the (Route 91 festival) tragedy in Las Vegas, we knew a lot of people there. The doctors that (treated) the wounded, they saw wounds like you'd see in war. That's not right.

"Military weapons should not be in the hands of civilians. It's everyone's responsibility, including the government and the National Rifle Association, to tell the truth. We all want a safe country."

Tim and Faith aren't the only country stars demanding gun reform - Johnny Cash's daughter Rosanne urged her music peers to stand up against National Rifle Association officials and demand an overhaul of firearms laws following the tragedy in Las Vegas.

In a blistering New York Times article, the singer encouraged country's elite to give up their arms and call for drastic changes to prevent a repeat of the Route 91 Harvest Festival horror.

Cash, who was onstage when gunman Stephen Paddock opened fire wrote: "Last year, I performed at the Concert Across America to End Gun Violence with Jackson Browne, Eddie Vedder, Marc Cohn and the Harlem Gospel Choir, and we got death threats. People wanted to kill us because we wanted to end gun violence. That's where we are: America, 2017."