LAS VEGAS (NYTimes) - Kelly Clarkson said she was supposed to lead a moment of silence as she hosted the Billboard Music Awards (May 21 morning, Singapore time) in the aftermath of yet another school shooting in Texas, which killed 10 people.

But she had something else in mind.

"I'm so sick of moments of silence," Clarkson said, as she fought through tears. "It's not working, like, obviously." She continued: "So why don't we not do a moment of silence? Why don't we do a moment of action? Why don't we do a moment of change? Why don't we change what's happening? Because it's horrible."

She did not mention exactly what action she meant, nor did she specify that she was in favour of limiting access to guns. But it was a notable statement.

Clarkson is a gun owner herself and has spoken publicly about it several times. She told NPR in 2012 that she owned nine guns and that she slept with a Colt .45.

"I live alone, so I'm not going out like that," Clarkson said at the time. "I got no chance if some man breaks into my house. So, yeah, I have a gun."

The Billboard awards show returned to the subject of school shootings when the singers Shawn Mendes and Khalid were joined on stage by a choir from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where a gunman killed 17 people in February.

But it was Clarkson's speech that generated the most buzz from the night.

Parents should be able to "send their kids to school. To church. To movie theatres. To clubs. You should be able to live your life without that kind of fear. So we need to do better", she urged.