Eagles of Death Metal singer: 'Until nobody has guns, everybody has to'

The lead singer of a California rock band that performed at Paris' Bataclan concert hall during a terror attack last year, says gun control is not the key to ending violence.

“Until nobody has guns, everybody has to have them,” Jesse Hughes of the Eagles of Death Metal, said during a tearful interview with French tv station, iTélé, on Monday. 

The Eagles of Death Medal were performing at the Bataclan on Nov. 13, when gunmen opened fire on the audience, killing 89 people.

Hughes said not a day goes by that he doesn’t think about what happened at the theater.

“When I’m awake is when I see things that are nightmares,” Hughes told iTélé. “I thought that talking about it would make it easier. I thought expelling it from inside me would make me less like this, but it’s not.”

Eagles of Death Metal will give free concert tickets to Bataclan survivors

Hughes, who's expressed support for gun ownership in the past, was asked about gun control during the interview.

“Gun control kind of doesn’t have anything to do with it," he said. "But if you want to bring it up, I’ll ask you, did your French gun control stop a single f****** person from dying at the Bataclan?"

Hughes said the Paris attacks have validated his views.

“I think the only thing that stopped it was some of the bravest men that I've ever seen in my life, charging head-first into the face of death with their firearms," he told iTélé. “ … Maybe, I know people will disagree with me but it seems like God made men and woman and that night guns made them equal.”

Hughes and his band will perform at the Olympia Theatre in Paris on Tuesday night, in what Hughes says will likely be an “intense” show, Sweden's TV4 reported. 

Follow @MaryBowerman on Twitter.