Brad Paisley’s Wife Joins Protest to Call for Safer Gun Laws in Tennessee [Watch]
Brad Paisley's wife, actor Kimberly Williams-Paisley, was among the thousands of people who took to the streets of Nashville on Tuesday (April 18) in support of stricter gun laws.
Williams-Paisley was part of the "Linking Arms for Change" event, a protest organized by the Voices for a Safer Tennessee Coalition.
She shared video of the event on social media, showing herself and a group of fellow protestors clad in red as they formed a three-mile human chain between the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt and the Tennessee Capitol.
"Powerful show of solidarity today," she writes in the caption of her post, describing the protest as a "bipartisan show of support" for the need for stronger gun laws. "I love my community and want to see it protected."
According to local news outlet News Channel 5, protesters emphasized that their goal wasn't to espouse one political side over the other, but rather to highlight the public safety issues involved in gun control legislation. Protestors were encouraged to wear red as a show of support for red flag laws — also known as extreme risk laws — which allow authorities to temporarily remove guns from people identified as at-risk or dangerous.
There are currently no red flag laws on the books in Tennessee, though News Channel 5 reports that Gov. Bill Lee called on lawmakers to pass such a bill during an April 10 press conference. Some form of red flag law currently exists in 19 states.
The latest push for red flag laws in Tennessee, as well as the "Linking Arms for Change" protest, comes apropos of the late-March mass shooting that took place at the Covenant School, a private Christian school in the Green Hills neighborhood of Nashville. Six people died in the shooting, including three 9-year-old children.
According to Williams-Paisley's post, over 8,500 people turned out to participate in the "Linking Arms for Change" event. Her video includes footage of many protestors dressed in red, including children holding up signs that read "Stop Gun Violence" and "Lockdown Drills Make Me Cry."
Williams-Paisley's participation in the process comes just days after her country superstar husband made a trip to Ukraine and performed in Kyiv's Mikhailovsky Square. Paisley is a global ambassador for United24, the country's official fundraising program, which works to raise money or rebuilding efforts amid the war in the country.
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