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NEWTOWN – Country music star Tim McGraw, facing criticism from gun rights advocates about his decision to play a concert in July to benefit Sandy Hook Promise, defended his decision Thursday.
“As a gun owner, I support gun ownership,” McGraw said. “I also believe that with gun ownership comes the responsibility of education and safety – most certainly when it relates to what we value most, our children.”
Sandy Hook Promise is a non-profit led by family members who lost a loved one in the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012. On that day, gunman Adam Lanza shot his way into the school and killed 20 first-graders and six educators before killing himself.
Through a mutual friend, McGraw knows the father of a first-grader who was shot in the massacre, the Washington Post reported.
McGraw agreed to play a July 17 concert at the Xfinity Theatre in Hartford and donate the proceeds to Sandy Hook Promise to promote mental wellness, combat social isolation, and prevent gun violence.
Critics on his Facebook page and on blogs across the internet accused him of selling out and abandoning his principles as a gun owner.
Under a post with the headline “Tim McGraw Poised to ‘Dixie Chick’ Himself With Gun Control Benefit Concert,” a blog called Bearing Arms drew similarities to 2003, when country the music group Dixie Chicks criticized President Bush’s Iraq policy and suffered a backlash.
“Country music superstar Tim McGraw seems poised to make a similar, potentially career-ending move…” reads the post.
McGraw replied on Thursday that it was possible to support gun ownership and advocate responsibility at the same time.
“Through a personal connection, I saw first-hand how the Sandy Hook tragedy affected families and I felt their pain,” he said. “The concert is meant to do something good for a community that is recovering.”
