After armed robbery, Nashville musician embraces gun ownership for personal safety

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (WZTV) — Touring country rock artist Jay Allen spends his days in the studio and his nights on the road.

“I’m a muscular guy, I’ve got tattoos,” Allen says. “I always had this naive thought process that this wouldn’t happen to me, that no one would mess with me. And then it did.”

It took Allen a few seconds to change his perspective on his life when he said he was robbed at gunpoint at a grocery store chain in East Nashville.

“He pointed a gun at me over my hoodie and said, ‘I need cash,'” Allen says. “And I said, ‘I don’t have any money.’ And that’s what I thought, I was so surprised, I laughed, I said, ‘This isn’t a joke.’ I said, ‘It’s okay, “He said, ‘You can Venmo me.'”

Allen says he sent the man $100 and immediately fled the store.

Allen adds: “My first phone call was to my best friend. He’s a Marine, and he said, ‘It’s time to protect yourself.’ I think I was disappointed, I knew that, I felt taken advantage of, and I felt helpless.”

Allen says he tried to shake off that feeling of frustration by going straight to the shooting range the next day and proceeding to purchase a gun for protection.

He had been the victim of a crime in the past when his musical equipment was stolen from his front yard trailer.

Allen adds: “I live in a big city now and it’s growing so fast and you never know what’s going to happen. So I think it’s important not to live in fear, but to always be aware.”

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