Are you familiar with the singing guo of Aly & AJ? 

Probably not. The two sisters aren’t exactly tearing up the charts. They release music semi-regularly, but while I’m sure there are enough sales to justify their record label keeping them on, they’re not exactly household names, either. In fact, you’re probably more likely to know them from their acting work, and not that much of even that. They had some success in the past, but that was back in 2007 or so.

But they hit all the right political notes, and the fact that they were in the area of the Sacramento shooting has allowed them to slap the label of “mass shooting survivor” on their resume, which they’re milking for all it’s worth. The fact that a couple of artists who most have never heard of are getting covered by CBS News suggests there might be other reasons for all of this.

Singer-songwriters Aly and AJ are using their platform to address gun violence, a cause that became deeply personal after they survived a mass shooting in 2022. 

The sisters sheltered in place on their tour bus in Sacramento while a gunman killed six people and left at least a dozen others wounded, authorities said. It was considered the deadliest shooting in the city’s history.

The duo recently released their new song, “Sirens,” to process and respond to the tragedy. Now, they’re pushing for gun control measures they believe are crucial as Election Day nears.

Aly said that “Sirens” has become a part of their healing process, calling the song “cathartic.” The duo revisited the site of the shooting in Sacramento to film the music video.

“For Aly and I, our way to heal is music. It’s always been that way,” AJ explained. “This song was our way to process what happened that night.”

Now, I’m sure it was scary, but let’s also remember that there were three people charged with involvement in that shooting. They weren’t charged with three of the murders, however, because those victims were involved in trying to kill people, too. It wasn’t a “mass shooting” so much as a shoot-out between rival gang factions.

They weren’t likely to be in any danger, especially since they were on a bus that could, at least in theory, drive the hell away.

Maybe they actually couldn’t for whatever reason, but I doubt it. 

Here’s the thing, though. This isn’t the first story I’ve seen all about how they were traumatized by what happened that night and that they’re just really supporting gun control because of what transpired.

Of course, they’ve backed progressive causes extensively since 2017, supporting everything from Planned Parenthood to Black Lives Matter and various points in between, so this feels very much like something they already supported. They’re just now trying to leverage that into attention from a very biased media, all so they can sell more albums and/or revive their relatively stalled acting careers.

Yeah, I know it seems harsh, but it also seems accurate.

What happened in Sacramento is far enough in the past that we know quite a few things about it, and if they were as traumatized as they claimed, they’d have followed what happened close enough to know those things as well.

For example, we know that at least some of the shooters used full-auto switches, which are already illegal. We know that California gun control laws include literally everything being pushed on the federal level and accomplished absolutely nothing. We know all of these and these two should be aware of that as well.

If they aren’t, then they really need to educate themselves.

If they are, then this is just a cry for attention from two women who thought earlier success would make them much bigger names than they currently are.