We’re revisiting an episode from September 2023 about safe storage, the portrayal of weapons in media, and reducing gun violence. We hope this episode is helpful to you as you prepare to spend time with friends and family over the holidays.

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TRANSCRIPT

Sarah [00:00:07] This is Sarah Stewart Holland.

Beth [00:00:09] This is Beth Silvers.

Sarah [00:00:10] You're listening to Pantsuit Politics.

Beth [00:00:12] Where we take a different approach to the news.

[00:00:14] Music Interlude.

Sarah [00:00:29] Thank you for being here today. Our team is off for Thanksgiving, so we're going to reshare a conversation we had last August with actress Piper Parable and Kris Brown of the Brady Organization about The Show Gun Safety program and ways to have better conversations about guns with the people in your life. Look, we know that under a Trump administration, it's a lot less likely we'll see sweeping gun reform passed. But that doesn't take all options for meaningful change off the table. And we hope this conversation reminds you about what is within the power of us as individuals and how we can help reduce gun violence in our own circles.

Also, don't forget, it's officially gift giving season, and we have a very lovingly designed gift guide for Pantsuit Politics fans. So if that's for yourself, get yourself a gift. If you want to share that with the people in your life and say, look, I'm always talking about Sarah and Beth, here's what you could get me. It's merch, it's tote bags, there's cameo options. It's all kinds of really cool gifts for the Pantsuit Politics fan in your life. And this weekend only, we are running a Black Friday sale with 24% off all our merchandise. So make sure you check out our shownotes for a link and for more information.

Up next, Show Gun Safety.

Music Interlude.

Beth Kris and Piper, thank you so much for spending time with us at Pantsuit Politics. I was thrilled when I found an article about your advocacy work around guns and Hollywood because I feel like a very stereotypical suburban mom on my soapbox about how I don't like the way that guns are depicted in TV and movies. And I feel like the parents of my childhood ranting about video games. But it was validating to see that you see this too. And I was reminded of how in business we say all the time that culture eats policy for breakfast. Why would that not be true? Why would Hollywood not have a role? So tell me about the work that you're doing with Brady.

Piper Perabo Sure. Thanks, Beth. Hi everybody, I'm so glad to be back on Pantsuit Politics. I was so excited that Brady was going to do this campaign to bring together a bunch of showrunners, where like basically creators of the TV shows we watch to talk about how we can put ideas about gun safety into television. What I like about Brady is they're not trying to be prescriptive. They're not saying like no guns or control the creativity of the writers. But one thing that they talked about, which they went to Washington, D.C., to talk at the White House about these ideas is safe storage. And my husband had been working on a show like a month earlier where there was a corrections officer, his wife woke up in the middle of the night in a scene on television, and he wasn't in the bed. And that was very unusual. And she rolled over and opened his bedside table drawer where there was a lock box, which she opened with her fingerprint and checked to make sure his service revolver was there. It was. She closes the box. Now she's really doesn't know what's going on. And you see her creep out of the room, like, what's going on? And I thought, that's the perfect way to do it. Because we're not saying that there aren't guns in the house, but we're normalizing safe storage and we're interlacing it right into a hero character. We're showing how it works, actually builds tension in the story. And so when I found out Brady was supporting this kind of idea about how we can normalize safety, that seemed like a great fit to me.

Sarah I still remember-- I think this movie is probably 15 years old. It was this dumb comedy called, I think, Couples Therapy with Vince Vaughn. And he does that. He rolls over and he touches his entire handprint on a gun safe before he opens it. And I don't remember anything else that happened in that movie, but it caught my attention so strongly. I still remember it straight up like 10 years later, because it was so impactful to see. It didn't have anything to do with the plot. I just thought, 'Oh, that was so smart' and it had such impact on me.

Beth Kris It seems like that is so consistent with Brady's goal of minimizing family fire. Could you talk a little bit about the connection between this project and Brady's larger campaign?

Kris Brown Absolutely. Thank you so much for inviting me on. I'm a big fan of your podcast and also of Piper, so it was a great thrill to get to work with her, others in the Hollywood community. And as she said, showrunners, those people who are really at the very genesis often of the shows that we love and are the folks who give birth to how most scenes are cut and the use of firearms. And so, the really exciting thing for Brady is that this is an offshoot of our End Family Fire campaign. That's something that we started in 2018, taking a look at other successful public health social norm change campaigns of which the United States has been a leader really ...

Show Gun Safety: A New Approach to Gun Violence