By The Daily Caller (U.S.) | Created at 2026-08-26 19:08:10 | Updated at 2026-09-04 09:40:35
1 week ago
Legendary singer-songwriter Dolly Parton, who passed away Tuesday at the age of 80, recounted a time she used a firearm for self-defense in a resurfaced interview.
During the 2021 interview with the Nashville Soundbite on YouTube, Parton was asked about a famous scene in “9 to 5” where her character referenced using a gun to turn a lecherous boss “from a rooster to a hen.” Parton, who had a concealed-carry permit for decades, recounted a real-life incident that may have been the inspiration for the iconic film moment. (RELATED: Would-Be Robber Makes Fatal Error In Victim Selection After Delivery Driver Draws Gun)
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“This guy was really coming on to me and it was scary as it could be and so he just kept on and I just really, because being country girls and at that time, you know, I had a gun so I pulled it out and I said ‘Look,’ it was basically what they kind of based that [on], ‘if you touch me one more time I’ll change you from a rooster to a hen with one shot,’” Parton told the interviewer. “That’s kind of basically where that whole thing [started], because I’d told that story years before and so, so that’s kind of where that came from.”
Parton was open about carrying a firearm and having a concealed carry permit, discussing the matter in a 1978 interview with Playboy magazine.
“I always carry a gun. A .38 pistol,” Parton told the publication. “I have a permit for it in Nashville…. I just carry it for protection. I feel safer when I’ve got it. I just don’t like the idea of knowin’ I’m totally helpless.”
The pre-1981 incident happened decades before the Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, which threw out New York’s requirement for a concealed carry applicant to demonstrate a “good cause” to carry a firearm, and before many states passed “shall issue” concealed carry laws that required authorities to issue permits to those who met certain qualifications.
Prior to 1994, Tennessee had restrictive concealed-carry laws and permits were difficult to acquire from the county sheriff, according to TennesseeFirearms.com. The state shifted to a central issuing authority in 1996 and became a constitutional carry state in 2021.
