Ballerini shared that she survived a school shooting herself in 2008.
opened the 2023 CMT Music Awards with a call to action regarding last week's shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, also telling audiences she is the survivor of a 2008 school shooting in the same state.
"The community of sorrow over this and the 130 mass shootings in the U.S. this year alone stretches from coast to coast," Ballerini continued. “I wanted to personally stand up here and share this moment, because on August 21, 2008, I watched Ryan McDonald, my 15-year-old classmate at Central High School, lose his life to a gun in our cafeteria."
"Tonight's broadcast is dedicated to the ever-growing list of families, friends, survivors, witnesses and responders whose lives continue to forever be changed by gun violence," she said. "I pray, deeply, that the closeness and the community we feel for the next few hours through of music can soon turn into action -- like real action -- that moves us forward together to create change for the safety of our kids and our loved ones.
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