Country Musicians Removed From NRA Country Website

More than three dozen country singers' names have been removed from the NRA Country website. A website redesign, launched on Friday (March 16), according to Rolling Stone, did away with a formerly present list of associated artists, though representatives for acts including Granger Smith and Justin Moore tell Rolling Stone that they were unaware of the change.

In the past, NRA Country has spotlighted country artists, developing a list of stars who have supported or are associated with the NRA. As gun control comes under more intense scrutiny than ever in the wake of more and more deadly shootings, however, some artists and agencies have chosen to distance themselves from the association: Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton disassociated themselves after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2013, for example.

More recently, following the tragic Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting in Las Vegas, Nev., on Oct. 1, 2017, artists including Florida Georgia Line and Thomas Rhett disappeared from the NRA Country's list. The organization's website redesign comes just slightly over one month after the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in which 17 students were killed.

"I can only guess that after the Parkland shooting, there were a lot more acts that felt queasy about having their name directly associated with the NRA," David Macias, president of the distribution, marketing and artist management company Thirty Tigers, tells Rolling Stone. "So, rather than be left with a list of artists that only has Charlie Daniels on it, they decided to change it so that you couldn't tell which acts were associated."

The NRA Country website now only contains artist mentions on the events page, where upcoming shows with the Randy Rogers Band, as well as Daniels, Travis Tritt and Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers, are featured.