We recently reported on a number of top musicians signing a petition asking for reform in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, but some of those same musicians are also signing on the dotted line with an open letter to Congress seeking an end to gun violence.

Billboard drafted the open letter, which has garnered the support of such acts as Pearl Jam, Linkin Park, Trent Reznor, Paul McCartney, Iggy Pop, Rivers Cuomo, Courtney Love, Mike D., Joan Jett and more.

In the hard rock and metal community, the most well-known incident of gun violence inserting itself into the music arena was when Dimebag Darrell was gunned down onstage by an assailant at a Damageplan concert in Ohio. The issue has returned to prominence recently with the terrorist attack on Eagles of Death Metal's show at Le Bataclan in Paris last fall and the death of young pop star Christina Grimmie after being shot while signing autographs at a meet-and-greet with fans.

The open letter to Congress reads as follows:

STOP GUN VIOLENCE NOW
As leading artists and executives in the music industry, we are adding our voices to the chorus of Americans demanding change.
Music always has been celebrated communally, on dancefloors and at concert halls. But this life-affirming ritual, like so many other daily experiences—going to school or church or work—now is threatened, because of gun violence in this country.
The one thing that connects the recent tragedies in Orlando is that it is far too easy for dangerous people to get their hands on guns.
We call on Congress to do more to prevent the gun violence that kills more than 90 Americans every day and injures hundreds more, including:
1. Require a background check for every gun sale
2. Block suspected terrorists from buying guns
Billboard and the undersigned implore you—the people who are elected to represent us—to close the deadly loopholes that put the lives of so many music fans, and all of us, at risk.

Other names of note to have signed the open letter include Yoko Ono, Ringo Starr, Thom Yorke, Alicia Keys, Alanis Morissette, Barbra Streisand, Beck, Billy Joel, Britney Spears, Cher, Conan O'Brien, Cyndi Lauper, Ellen DeGeneres, Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Sting, Stevie Nicks and Tony Bennett among others.

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