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Keith: Stricter gun laws wouldn’t really make a difference in shootings

Toby Keith, right, and Tricia Lucus attend the 46th Annual Songwriters Hall 0f Fame Induction and Awards Gala at the Marriott Marquis on Thursday, June 18, 2015, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Toby Keith, right, and Tricia Lucus attend the 46th Annual Songwriters Hall 0f Fame Induction and Awards Gala at the Marriott Marquis on Thursday, June 18, 2015, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP) Toby Keith, right, and Tricia Lucus attend the 46th Annual Songwriters Hall 0f Fame Induction and Awards Gala at the Marriott Marquis on Thursday, June 18, 2015, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

NEW YORK — Toby Keith says he’s not sure how to prevent tragedies like Wednesday’s church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, but doesn’t think stricter gun laws would make a difference.

“If it can happen in church, it can happen anywhere, so there’s no answer to it,” Keith said.

“Countries all over the world that have really strict gun polices, like Oslo, Norway. It happens there.”

Keith feels it’s hard to predict where violence will show up, but felt if a police officer had been praying at The Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church on Wednesday, “maybe seven or eight of those nine people would still be alive.”

He made the comments Thursday on the red carpet at the Songwriters Hall of Fame gala where he was being inducted.