Maren Morris Speaks out About ‘Common Sense Gun Reform’

Maren Morris is speaking out about gun reform, and she isn’t necessarily taking a stand popular among country music artists. The Texan acknowledges there is a lot of work to be done, but she isn’t ready to completely disapprove of the use of guns, at least not yet.

“I’m really not about taking someone’s Second Amendment right away,” Morris told Paper. “I’m more about, ‘Can we have a conversation about common-sense gun reform so people can’t so easily walk into a church or a school or a music fest and shoot the place up with an automatic weapon?’

“I just think there’s such a fear that comes with talking about a common-sense thing,” she continued. “Now that people immediately get so enraged and fired up and volatile, it scares a lot of artists into keeping quiet.”

Morris doesn’t want her career to suffer for speaking her mind, but neither does she want to make comments that can appear to be divisive, even if that wasn’t her intent.

“[We live in] such a noisy, chaotic, bullsh– world, where we can’t hear an opposing opinion without completely shutting down,” Morris maintained. “I really speak up when I’m so fed up or passionate about something. I want the people who buy my records and buy tickets my shows to know that I’m so happy you love my music, but I’m a person.”

“I’m a taxpayer,” added the singer. “I want to have kids someday and know that maybe I’m leaving them in a world that’s better than what I found. That’s really what’s in my heart when I speak up about these kinds of things.”

Morris keeps the Dixie Chicks in her mind, after the trio infamously bashed then–President George W. Bush in 2003, and watched their career almost disappear overnight.

“These people now are trying to threaten your career with the threat of being erased, because you have an opinion,” she said. “I think that’s such a crazy thing that happened to a group of extremely talented women who didn’t just want to shut up and sing.”

It’s a fine line for Morris, and one she is still learning to navigate.

“I would like my music to be standing on its own, but also not under a feeling of fear or losing a whole fanbase,” Morris said. “And just because I expressed a heartfelt, personal belief that’s been made political by the powers that be.”

Morris’ sophomore album, GIRL, will be released on March 8. It is available for pre-order on her website.

Photo Credit: Getty images/Bryan Steffy