Jason Aldean calls for stronger background checks: ‘It’s too easy to get guns’

Country singer Jason Aldean, who was onstage during the Las Vegas mass shooting in October, says in a new interview that guns are “too easy to get.”

Aldean spoke to The Associated Press ahead of the release of his new album, and he said background checks for gun purchases are not “in-depth” enough.

“It’s too easy to get guns, first and foremost,” he said. “When you can walk in somewhere and you can get one in five minutes, do a background check that takes five minutes, like how in-depth is that background check?”

Aldean added that he is a gun owner and doesn’t think people should be banned from having guns. He lamented that politicians have not “come to an agreement” about gun reform.

{mosads}“Nobody is looking at what the actual issue is and really how to come to an agreement and make a smart decision,” he said.

Aldean has refrained from making political statements about guns in the months since the shooting, which was the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

“It’s a no-win situation,” he told the AP. “I think no matter what you say, whether you’re for gun control or not, I mean, you’re setting yourself up to be crucified in the public eye or in the media.”

The singer said that due to his experiences, he empathizes with the students in the Parkland, Fla., high school shooting.

“Unless anybody has witnessed anything like that or been a part of it, it’s really hard for people to really understand where you’re coming from on that stuff,” he said. “It’s like the kids from the school in Florida, that shooting. I get it, man. I understand how they are feeling.”