The Washington Times
Stephanie Green & Elizabeth Glover
"I'm an advocate of gun rights," Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Joe Perry told G2 on Thursday at the Capitol Visitors Center, where he was appearing in support of Rock Stars of Science, an initiative to raise public awareness about health issues and to build support for setting scientific research as a national priority.
"I think that guns have been a part of our heritage," said the lead guitarist for Aerosmith, wearing a platinum-and-diamond revolver-shaped necklace.
"If we could start all over again, it would be great if there were no guns in the world," he continued. "It would be great if there was no war in the world. It would be great if evil people didn't do evil things to other people — but that's not the kind of world we live in, and history bears that out. Unfortunately, that's the way it is.
"It's nice to sit there and go, 'Let's take all the guns away.' Well, if you take the guns away, all the criminals will have guns because they're not going to turn them in. There are so many firearms in this country right now, and there are a lot of things that I think need to be adjusted as far as gun rights go, but the bottom line is it's a fact of life and it's something that we have to deal with."
Mr. Perry, who supported Sen. John McCain (also at Thursday's event) in the 2008 presidential race, participated in a panel discussion with some of the nation's leading scientists about the important role of science in diagnosing and addressing diseases such as Alzheimer's, HIV/AIDS and cancer.
In chatting with G2, the guitar god revealed that he was interested in becoming a marine biologist in his youth, but a learning disorder prevented him from thriving academically, so he took up the guitar.
Plankton's loss was our gain.
Mr. Perry's own band, the Joe Perry Project, will release an album on Oct. 6.
