Guitarist at Vegas concert flips stance on 2nd Amendment after massacre
Jason Aldean called it "beyond horrific." Tyler Reeve called it a "war zone." Jake Owen called it "the most unimaginable event" he had ever witnessed.
Several country stars on the bill at the Route 91 Harvest Festival described a scene of terror as a shooter in a Las Vegas hotel rained gunfire down on thousands of music fans. It was the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
But while most of the performers at the concert focused on the horror of the shooting, one artist at the event voiced a different perspective.
Caleb Keeter, a guitarist for the Josh Abbott Band, posted a statement on Twitter about his reaction to the shooting.
"I have been a proponent of the 2nd Amendment my entire life," Keeter wrote. "Until the events of last night. I cannot express how wrong I was."
— Caleb Keeter (@Calebkeeter) October 2, 2017
Keeter said while members of their crew had legal firearms on their bus, they didn't want to be mistaken for attackers.
"We couldn't touch them for fear police might think that we were part of the massacre and shoot us," he wrote. "We need gun control RIGHT. NOW. My biggest regret is that I stubbornly didn't realize it until my brothers on the road and myself were threatened by it."
Keeter said the attacker "laid waste to a city with dedicated, fearless police officers desperately trying to help, because of access to an insane amount of fire power. Enough is enough."
Even as mass shootings become more prevalent, the response from Washington has almost become a tradition: Democrats furiously demand immediate legislative action on gun control while Republicans resist placing heavier restrictions on gun ownership.
It's not clear whether any federal gun control law would have prevented the attack. Still, many Democratic lawmakers are frustrated that Congress has done nothing in recent years to address gun violence.