Snoop Lion Partners With MTV For Gun Buyback Initiative

Snoop Lion is taking serious shots at gun violence. Snoop gathered Drake and his daughter Cori B. in a call for gun control on his brand-new single "No Guns Allowed," and now the veteran rapper-turned-reggae singer is ready to take action.

Snoop, MTV and Jewelry for a Cause will help to take illegal guns off the street with the release of the limited edition "MTV x Caliber" bracelets made in part from the steel of illegal guns acquired in police-sponsored buyback programs. The bracelets also feature serial numbers of firearms that were returned via buyback programs in Newark, New Jersey, and can be pre-ordered beginning Tuesday (April 9) for $40 on caliber.MTV.com. The proceeds from each sale will be donated to the Newark Police Department to help fund future gun buyback amnesty programs.

"This is such an important message we're sharing," Snoop Lion said in a statement issued by MTV. "It's a movement we want generations to recognize, embrace, and get behind. We've seen a lot of senseless acts of violence involving guns recently — too many have lost their lives, too many families have been destroyed. Like my friends at MTV, I want to be a part of the change that will help bring peace."

The announcement comes on the same day that the "No Guns Allowed" music video made its on-air debut on MTV, MTV2, mtvU, MTV Hits and MTV Jams, and went into rotation on each of the five channels.

In a special behind-the-scenes video package delivered to MTV's Buzzworthy blog on April 5, both Snoop and Drake spoke on how gun violence has affected them. The Doggystyle MC reminded viewers of his not-so-glamorous gun-toting past, while Drake spoke on how gun violence affected his own community in July 2012, when 19 people were shot and two kids were killed during a neighborhood barbecue. "It hit close to home, I think not only for me, but for our entire city and I'm from Toronto so I just tried to paint a picture and I looked at this as an opportunity to sort of share something with my generation," Drake said.

"My take on gun control is that the appropriate people should have them," Snoop added. "I've come to realize that these guns are harmful in the wrong hands and they need to be in the right hands and they need to be removed from those who don't know how to handle them."