Dierks Bentley and Florida Georgia Line's Tyler Hubbard have joined a campaign to end gun violence and are speaking out in support of universal background checks.
Videos by Wide Open Country
The two country artists have joined Toms' End Gun Violence Together campaign, launched by Toms apparel company founder Blake Mycoskie. The campaign calls for universal background checks and helps supporters send postcards to their representatives. The company has also pledged $5 million to organizations dedicated to ending gun violence.
Bentley took to social media to support the campaign.
"Proud of my friend @blakemycoskie and @toms for jumping into the discussion on how we can work together to #endgunviolence," Bentley wrote. "He has a gift for bringing people together and I'm happy to see him applying it to this cause."
Hubbard posted a video on his Instagram page to share his support for the campaign and direct followers to the Toms website.
"As a proud gun owner myself, that's a right and a privilege that I take very, very serious as I know a lot of you guys do too," Hubbard said. "I think we can all come together and all agree that something has to change. It's unacceptable. We shouldn't have to walk out of the house and live in fear anymore."
Hubbard also shared a follow-up video challenging others in the country music community to join the campaign and share their own messages in support of universal background checks.
"I know we've all been effected by gun violence directly or indirectly and I just want to say it's our time to take a stand, to join together...Let's make a real change," Hubbard said.
The country music community has been directly impacted by gun violence in recent months. Last year, 58 people were killed in a mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas. Last month, a gunman killed 12 people inside Borderline Bar and Grill, a California country bar. Several patrons inside the bar at the time of the shooting were survivors of the Route 91 shooting.
