God & Guns

"God & Guns" is the title track from Lynyrd Skynyrd's 12th studio album. The song title is a reference to a speech President Obama gave in San Francisco where he referred to Americans who "cling to guns or religion." Vocalist Johnny Van Zant admitted to Billboard magazine that this track is likely to strike people as politically incorrect, but self-censorship has never been in Lynyrd Skynyrd's vocabulary. He said: "We were just in Europe and [with] everybody that was the first question: 'What is the meaning of this 'God & Guns?' We believe in God and I think that Rickey [Medlocke, guitarist] says it best: 'Any religion that you believe in you should be able to pray to it.' For me, personally, it is Jesus Christ and the Lord above."Van Zant added that he doesn't own any handguns, but supports the rights of others to do so. "It is a scary world out there and believe me that if someone were to try to come into my house, I want to be able to protect myself," he said. "We are not saying that every idiot out there should own a gun-and there should be better background checks on guns. Not everybody should have the right."

God & Guns debuted at #18 on Billboard 200, Lynyrd Skynyrd highest-charting studio effort since Street Survivors reached #5 in 1977.