Actress and activist Piper Perabo joins to highlight the unique power of storytelling and narrative as a tool for organizing and bringing about change. Together, we discuss Piper's passion for promoting safe storage on film and television sets, as well as how fighting for gun violence prevention is itself an intersectional act. From sharing safety concerns with families to sparking conversations around firearm safety, join Piper and hosts Kelly and JJ as we explore the influence of media, the importance of safety consciousness, and the potential for positive change.
Further reading:
Hollywood Actors, Directors, Creators Discuss Gun Safety (Brady)
Gun Guidelines for the Media (Hollywood Health and Society)
'Yellowstone' and Hollywood's Quiet Pivot to Showing Gun Safety Onscreen (the Ankler)
Adam Brody, Piper Perabo and More Call for Less Gun Violence on Screen at White House Roundtable: ‘Hollywood Has Been Due for a Reckoning’ (Variety)
Wrap Roundtable: Adam Brody Calls Out Onscreen Gun Violence as Big Part of the Problem – ‘American as Apple Pie’ (the Wrap)
Law & Order: SVU Changed the TV Landscape. It Also Changed How People Think About Sexual Assault (Time)
For more information on Brady, follow us on social media @Bradybuzz or visit our website at bradyunited.org.
Full transcripts and bibliographies of this episode are available at bradyunited.org/podcast.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255.
In a crisis? Text HOME to 741741 to connect with a Crisis Counselor 24/7.
Music provided by: David “Drumcrazie” Curby
Special thanks to Hogan Lovells for their long-standing legal support
℗&©2019 Red, Blue, and Brady
Actress and activist Piper Perabo joins to highlight the unique power of storytelling and narrative as a tool for organizing and bringing about change. Together, we discuss Piper's passion for promoting safe storage on film and television sets, as well as how fighting for gun violence prevention is itself an intersectional act. From sharing safety concerns with families to sparking conversations around firearm safety, join Piper and hosts Kelly and JJ as we explore the influence of media, the importance of safety consciousness, and the potential for positive change.
Further reading:
Hollywood Actors, Directors, Creators Discuss Gun Safety (Brady)
Gun Guidelines for the Media (Hollywood Health and Society)
'Yellowstone' and Hollywood's Quiet Pivot to Showing Gun Safety Onscreen (the Ankler)
Adam Brody, Piper Perabo and More Call for Less Gun Violence on Screen at White House Roundtable: ‘Hollywood Has Been Due for a Reckoning’ (Variety)
Wrap Roundtable: Adam Brody Calls Out Onscreen Gun Violence as Big Part of the Problem – ‘American as Apple Pie’ (the Wrap)
Law & Order: SVU Changed the TV Landscape. It Also Changed How People Think About Sexual Assault (Time)
For more information on Brady, follow us on social media @Bradybuzz or visit our website at bradyunited.org.
Full transcripts and bibliographies of this episode are available at bradyunited.org/podcast.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255.
In a crisis? Text HOME to 741741 to connect with a Crisis Counselor 24/7.
Music provided by: David “Drumcrazie” Curby
Special thanks to Hogan Lovells for their long-standing legal support
℗&©2019 Red, Blue, and Brady
Well, my name is Piper Paribault and I'm an actor and activist, and I'm currently working on the TV shows Yellowstone and Billions, and I recently met with the Brady campaign to Washington to talk about the Show Your Safety campaign.
Speaker 2:And what brought you to working with Brady and the Show Your Safety campaign.
Speaker 1:Well, i'll say this for all the, for all the negative things you can say about social media, especially the Dumpster Fire that is Twitter. Right now, chris Brown reached out to me over DMs on Twitter And I follow Brady because I feel like you guys are really in a place that a lot of Americans can get on board. There's a lot of common sense legislation that you support and common sense norms that you want to establish, and I feel like I look to Brady to sort of get that point of view that people can agree on. And so I follow Chris Brown too, and she reached out to me to tell me about the campaign and say you are going to Washington And I was like can I come? I'll say this my DMs are so positive, like I really use Twitter.
Speaker 1:when I first started, i was involved with the International Rescue Committee before Trump became president, but even before then, but especially after then, i use Twitter as a way to reach out to organizations and people that I think are smart, and there are so many activists and leaders, even members of Congress, that I have interviewed, like I follow them and they follow me, and then I'll write them like a little knowing And see, you know what I mean, see if we can start a relationship, and then I always try to then meet in real life, because I think that's where real trust and relationship are built. But yeah, my Twitter DMs it's been really useful.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I will say social media has been really great for grassroots organizing. I will give it a huge uplift for that.
Speaker 1:I think that what I've learned as I've sort of listened these past seven years is that we make the most progress and the best progress when we work intersectionally. And so when I first started in activism, there was this mentality of like choose the subject you care about most Is it water? Is it, you know, education And then just focus on that. And I was like I kind of like the parties that like have a lot of different people at them. You know what I mean. So I've always been kind of wanting to bring the whole, the whole show at once.
Speaker 1:And what was exciting to me about the show your safety campaign was that I have worked on a lot of shows that have firearms And I think that I think it's so smart what Brady is doing of trying to change social norms, like we did with designated drivers, or buckle up with seatbelts to talk about safe storage of firearms. And we can normalize that partly by showing it on television. If we show responsible gun owners who unload their firearm and put it in a lockbox when they get home, and we just constantly do that, it becomes a norm. And there I think about this with grassroots organizing, you know, and television, it's like I can't knock on every door in Wisconsin, but I can be on every TV in Wisconsin And I think you can, even with cigarettes. You know, all of a sudden the leading heroes didn't have cigarettes in their mouth anymore And it started to change the culture.
Speaker 1:And I think we can do that with safe storage And I think responsible gun owners believe in safe storage And I. There are so many things about it that I think we can move the needle on without. It's not a substitute for legislation. Obviously, legislation is what I'm hoping for, but this is something that my community, the entertainment community, can do to help be part of a solution.
Speaker 2:I think that's a really important insight. When you talked about how, rather than thinking about oh, i have to focus on just one issue You sort of thought about things intersectionally, because one of the things we've done on this podcast is try to bring in the intersection between gun violence and environmental justice, or gun violence and race, or gun violence and education, and you name it. So that's hugely important because it touches so many areas And in your area, in you know the television and film, i'm wondering, since you've gotten involved in the show, your safety campaign, what, how has it sort of impacted the way you've been thinking about your projects Or your work and sort of your daily life?
Speaker 1:Well, i'll tell you this. Last night I was watching a show I'm not going to name them because I don't want to blame and shame, but I was watching this really good show You probably heard of it And a woman who is a law enforcement officer takes a gut, she goes, she wakes up in the night. She hears a sound, she gets on the bed, she goes to the closet.
Speaker 1:There was a safe with a lock on And I was like my husband was sitting right next to me. I was like, ah, safe storage, safe storage. And she, under the lock, took out the weapon loaded it.
Speaker 2:I was like she started unloading.
Speaker 1:I was like maybe we're going to be fine. She goes down the stairs. She sees that it's her partner like her, you know, emotional partner coming through the door and relationship partner not work partner, and and he was like whoa and has this sort of moment. And then she's like I'm sorry, i didn't know you were coming over. And she apologizes And just when I was getting ready to celebrate, she opens the kitchen drawer, puts the loaded weapon in the drawer, closes it and says can I make you an omelet? And I was like an omelet. There's a lot of weapons in the kitchen. But we were halfway there, you know, and I thought, oh, i'm going to see who I know on that show and reach out and say yo guys, great job on the safe storage, but you can't leave the loaded weapon in the kitchen drawer. So we can do it. And it was part of the tension and it all worked for the story. We're just not. We're just not there yet.
Speaker 2:I know exactly what show, because I had the same journey, the emotional, same emotional journey throughout that scene. Wow, yes. And then I was like wait, no, no, no, no, no, yeah. I was like you could just Yeah, yeah, i was like just one more step, you had it. So, yeah, i Yeah.
Speaker 1:We were talking about in Washington. We went with Brady and a bunch of different show runners who are basically in television that's the people who create and sort of head the writer's room of a show And we had guys from writers from SWAT and rookie Yellowstone and they were talking about you know how we can implement this idea throughout production And not so that it has to be a PSA or preachy. But one thing somebody said was you know, if you're the prop master, if you're a head of props on a TV show, they're like greatest fear is that you're going to go like oh, don't you have a blank in the prop truck. They want you to have like every magical Chinese food container box of Cheerios. You know whatever boat anchor, but there is a certain kit that's kept in a prop truck. There are certain standard things that are always there, so that you always have a Chinese food container and whatnot.
Speaker 1:And somebody said why don't we just put like three different styles of lock boxes in all the prop kits so that at least at the last possible opportunity to show safe storage, the prop master has a lock box on the prop truck? So at least because it should hold, the good intention would be for it to come from the, from the writers, so that it's crafted within the story. It makes sense, it builds tension, but at the very least let's have a way to do safe storage if we haven't caught it anywhere else.
Speaker 2:And I'm wondering too. You mentioned part of what inspired you to do this was thinking about the ways that you might not be able to be in every door, but you can be on TVs across the country. And I'm wondering if someone were like, well, isn't that censorship, isn't that keeping you from expressing yourself or being, you know, creative in your field? I'm wondering how? how does this impact the craft? Or do you feel constrained at all?
Speaker 1:I mean, you know, i think we're not talking about making it law in the writer's guild that you have to have weapons stored safely. We're talking about raising awareness. And, like I was like you and I just said you know, because I've got it in my brain right now because of Brady, i was watching that show And when she put the gun in the kitchen cabinet I was like, why not? Because it's right on my front burner. And I think if we, what we were talking about with Brady was raising the awareness at all levels of production so that we're not dictating you know gun safety before story. But what we're saying is let's just think about, let's just think about where the gun came from. Let's just think about what someone does when they take their gun off their person.
Speaker 1:Because I've been on loads of sets for many years where it never occurred to me I'm guilty of it It never occurred to me, where my character even got the gun. They said, oh, just pull the gun out of your pocket and then you write it. And I'm like, okay, you've got so many things going on and so many things to be aware of And I think, because of the gun violence nightmare that's happening in this country. Let's raise the awareness right to the front. So if there's an opportunity to normalize safe storage, we can do that, but I don't think it even gets near the censorship question, because we're not talking about a mandate.
Speaker 1:I don't think we're going to, i don't think we could avoid it, even if we wanted to. Guns are so front and center in America right now and the fear of every parent, every person, all of a sudden, everybody knows what a soft target is and it's so in our national consciousness. It's going to be reflected in the storytelling, whether we want to or not, and I really hope that, as you were mentioning, it's not just the mass shootings that are what's in the storytelling, but it's really the children getting access to unlocked firearms in this country by firearm, there's a lot of domestic violence, there's a lot of things that are going on that I think should be in our storytelling, and I think it will be, because we're all experiencing it.
Speaker 2:And one of the interesting factors about talking about American media is that it's global right, like we're everywhere. We're one of the biggest media markets and we export a lot, but the gun violence problem that we see is sort of unique to us, even if other people are watching our shows and our movies. So I'm wondering how does that play into the way that you're thinking about this campaign or depicting guns on screen?
Speaker 1:I mean, i think that the fact that America, that our media has put out all over the world, but it's only America that has this horrible gun violence problem, shows you that, at least to me, it says that the media is not responsible. It's the lack of legislation that's responsible, because these TV shows and movies and video games are in many places that don't have this problem And it needs to be addressed legislatively if we're going to fix it. It's the guns. It's pretty clear To me. It's pretty clear what the problem is.
Speaker 3:And that was kind of my goal, as I was like I just want to be friends with smarter people And so I forced them into my orbit. That's great.
Speaker 2:I learned my way into the podcast, but that's a whole other story. I was like I'm obsessed with podcasts And I made that known to the whole staff, so I found my way in. I'm wondering too you've done a lot of work around refugees And I'm wondering, given that gun violence is so intersectional, do you see any links between that work and the work that you've been stepping into around gun violence prevention?
Speaker 1:I'll say when I first started working with the International Rescue Committee, i was predominantly working overseas I was going to. At the time that I started was the beginning of the war in Syria, and so there were refugees coming out of Syria into Southern Europe and Lebanon, and so I was always thinking about these issues as not at home. And gun violence is such a personal issue because it happens right here at home, and so it's heartbreaking to think that there are problems this terrifying that are happening right here at home. But I'll say, like the refugee work, that intersectionality not only gives us strength but, to me, gives me joy. There are. When I see trans activists show up at a refugee march or gun violence activists showing up with the climate kids, i'm like not only does it make our numbers bigger, but it's more fun. It's more fun to work together. And I think when I think about reaching out to other actors to say, can we get your voice involved in this? Some actors, because of who they are, what their heritage or their experiences, they're asked like I'll use Ruffalo as an example. Like everybody asks Ruffalo to do water. Like he loves water, he works on water, he cares about water. If you want to talk about water. You go get Ruffalo, but it's kind of fun to ask him to come and do trans rights or gun violence legislation. There's, like you know, it's a lighter lift when it's not something that you're dealing with the trauma of every day, so that intersectional relationship and support can be a real energy boost and joy to this work.
Speaker 1:I think I feel like I mean, as a person who supports many causes but it's not my profession I see the exhaustion in leadership and how this work can wear on someone, and so when the Biden Harris administration passed the Bipartisan, the Safer Communities Act, i was like I'm always the one in the room who's like. When do we party? When do we celebrate? Like I don't know. Like who makes cake? What do you guys like? Like tacos, something, because I feel like in activism there's always more work to do. It's such a long road that even not even something as big as the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, but like even small things, i think it's so important to celebrate even the small victories, because this work is so exhausting that you know getting together and having tacos and like patting each other on the back and telling each other a great job and that was a step forward is so important. I am super fun at a party, yeah, that whole like shut up and dribble argument. I mean I've never been the person that you're like. You can change the channel, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:But like, guess what? Like we are citizens of the United States and I have my First Amendment rights to speak and I am a voter And I also vote with my money. You know, i put my money in causes and people and businesses that I believe have best practices, and one of the great things about this country is our freedom of speech, and part of my work is to be a storyteller. But part of my personhood and part of my citizenship and part of my humanity is that I'm going to speak about the things I care about And, for whatever reason, people in entertainment have a larger platform in this country and like this country did that, like I didn't say I didn't become an actress so I could have, like a big Twitter thing.
Speaker 1:I wasn't even Twitter. So if people are going to listen and that's a tool that I have to make change for the better for all of us I'm not going to not use that tool. If I was a restaurant owner, then maybe I would use my restaurant to hold a fundraiser for Brady, you know. Or I would say, when I'm talking with older friends of mine, i'm like I know you're going to talking on the phone And so like, let's get you, you know, to call donors. Like we all have something that we can give to participate, and it's just a matter of figuring out what that is. And I happen to have this platform and like I'm not really going to tell you what I'm having for lunch on my Instagram, i'm going to tell you about Brady.
Speaker 2:Well, we really appreciate it And I think too, having you know, having you and other people in entertainment, also just kind of drives home the point that gun violence is unfortunately something that you can't really like, you know, buy your way out of or power your way out of. We all have a stake in it, and so it's just a way of showing that, like, if you're in the United States, you have a stake in this. It's really a real thing that all of us, you know, we have people we love, we like to go places, like you said, freedom of speech, and so all of these things are sort of part of it. And I'm wondering, you know, where would you in your wildest dreams if, if you could see some changes sort of take place in Hollywood around the depiction of guns, like, where would you love for it to go?
Speaker 1:I mean there's so much we could do. I heard one idea that a showrunner brought up when we were in Washington this past week about could we take the guns off the posters, and I thought like, oh, that feels concrete, actionable, we could agree on it. We're not saying there aren't guns in America, we're just going to take the guns off the posters because we can't control who sees those posters. You know, some kid walks past that poster every day on their way to school and there's plenty of ways for me to understand who John Wick is. I don't need to see the gun on the poster. So I thought that was kind of an interesting idea. I also someone brought up an idea that I thought was really cool. You know, when you're watching a TV show, before it begins there's like a card that says like warning violent or adult language, nudity They warned you for the nudity.
Speaker 1:They don't want you for the guns.
Speaker 1:I was like who makes that card? And one of the showrunners said oh, the networks are in charge of the cards on their network. Their legal decides what goes on that card. What will constitute that? And I said I wonder if we can reach out to networks and talk about, could we say on the card, warning, adult language, nudity, unsafe gun use. Because it just puts it on the front, it just raises that awareness. It's not even a you know, it's not a story giveaway, it's not. I guess it's a judgment. But we're just saying we're kind of naming it before you see it in a show like the nudity, you know, if you don't want to see a naked person, like get ready to cover your eyes for some part of the show or change it. But I think bringing that awareness at the top of the show might be helpful. And I would love to see the networks have to grapple with where do we put that label? I thought that was kind of a good idea It reminds me of.
Speaker 2:I mean, they put drug use Right Or a lot of. I'm used to seeing that and it kind of tees you up to it where you're like, okay, this is happening, they also put unsafe treatment of animals before certain shows.
Speaker 1:They're like a lot of you know, and I think I'm not sure if unsafe gun use is the right phrase. But you know, in the spitballing of the idea I was like that's a really interesting idea. If writers knew that that label might go on the show they might just think a tiny bit couple more seconds about how the there was a showrunner in Washington this weekend who was saying a lot of times a gun is a little bit of a lazy cliche. It's being used like an exclamation point And it was so used to it being pulled by a character on a TV show that we're almost completely unaware of it, except to say like it's basically saying like listen to me or do what I say. But maybe we could not be so we could just think a little bit more. If that's the right way of doing the storytelling, we're better storytelling.
Speaker 1:Frankly, I did a television show for Fox like two years ago and my character had breast cancer And I said to the showrunner could we put up a thing to remind women to get? because it was the pandemic had just happened and women weren't going in for their mammograms because they didn't want to. Women are so generous and you know they don't want to take up room in the hospital with their you know mammogram, in case somebody. But there had been a sharp decline in women getting their regularly scheduled mammograms during the pandemic And I said that because my character had breast cancer. This is a great opportunity to remind everybody to go get your mammogram or think of the woman in your life that you love your mom, your aunt, your sister, your wife, whatever and and say remind them, remind them to do that. And they the show is like the writer was a woman. She was like that's, that's cool, that's who do we call? I was like I don't know, it's your show. I said I'll call the executive producer and she was like oh, that's a great idea.
Speaker 1:Here's who you should call, and I couldn't believe that we could just call it up the chain and we did it. So I think there's there's real opportunities for that, and I think, especially after right after you've seen a very meaningful story that might hit you emotionally, you are more apt to consider the idea and maybe even make a change.
Speaker 3:And for listeners who, who you know, maybe, if you're not a big consumer of media or you're unfamiliar with like American media and you're like, I don't see like this changing that much. Like when law and order SVU started airing, the number of folks who were comfortable suddenly disclosing their assaults like skyrocketed Really After after the show aired. Yeah, people would call because suddenly, you know, maybe they felt that their local law enforcement wouldn't respond. But here was a in particular, like Mariska Hargitay. Like people would I know, even like write to her. But like people were like here's a detective who cares that I see on my TV screen. Here's what I can say, here are the procedures I can follow. So, even without something formally set up, like media changes the way that people respond to things that they're seeing.
Speaker 3:Yeah in their life.
Speaker 1:I think storytelling does that, because we can't all have had all the experiences, but if you see a well-told story, it can connect and sort of lead you somewhere. Mariska is like an incredible, incredible powerhouse for work on getting rid of the backlog of rape kids because she encountered that when she was doing the show. she sort of learned about it and then started working on it. She's one of those people that I marvel marvel at. She's amazing.
Speaker 2:Thinking to to your point about unsafe gun use, especially given that a lot of people who own guns want to be responsible. They want to protect their families, And so I could imagine a situation where maybe your kid who you're, you've tried to teach not to play with guns and things like that is watching a show and you see that it has that on there. Maybe that reminds you. Oh, I should probably have a conversation with my child about what they saw, what's right, like the questions to ask as well, rather than not even knowing that your child is seeing all sorts of stuff and then going out into the world.
Speaker 1:I totally agree I think there's a whole slew of responsible gun owners that don't have their guns in the locked storage situation that if a card was put at the end of a show that said make sure you store your firearms locked and unloaded to protect your kids, I wonder how many people would consider taking action.
Speaker 3:I think, especially if maybe the person modeling it is someone who is shown as a very responsible and competent gun owner on TV, totally Or even just a hero of any kind.
Speaker 1:It doesn't even. I think there's a pretty wide swath of stories that have characters that are so compelling.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it can be. I mean to identify myself as an elder millennial. I don't think there was a TV show on television that was geared towards my age group growing up that didn't have a do not drink and drive on prom night or homecoming episode. I think we got it from every type of conceivable story, from the schmaltzy after school type stuff to the really serious teen dramas. They all dealt with it and they all, i think, had the angle of the really pretty popular girl or the really cool girl that you wanted to be Didn't engage in that behavior. The one you wanted to be wasn't going to be the one causing like harm to someone else, and that was helpful like it was.
Speaker 1:It was a good work And we're not, you know, touching anyone's second amendment, right? We're not getting into a discussion about even legislation, we're just normalizing safe storage.
Speaker 3:Which trickles down, hopefully, in a good way, definitely, definitely.
Speaker 2:I mean, especially given the suicide, just the burden of suicide that this country is facing every year, and a lot of that has to do with safe storage too. So yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's impressive that you guys do this work every day.
Speaker 3:I see, for me, i'm really impressed whenever folks come into it to work in this space, who like that this isn't your every day, right, if that makes sense. Especially folks who don't have a tie to it, who aren't survivors. Like if you're choosing to be in this space and like to give of your time and like And it's not what, like you went to school for that you do daily, like I actually think that that's really impressive because it's a it's a hard thing to select into, right? I don't know if I'm articulating that well, kelly, but I know what you mean.
Speaker 2:It's especially, i mean we're talking earlier about, i'm not We know how for a lot of people, this can be a third rail, and I think part of what that means is that when you step into it, you're sort of engaging in something that's controversial even though it shouldn't be, which is why I think this campaign is so cool, because it's sort of getting, it's not going on the you know, the floral Congress or something like that. It's simply like telling stories and working with people in that way, which is so important because it shouldn't be a third rail And for a lot of people in their private lives it's not, but it can percolate up to being this issue that becomes. I mean, people want, they don't want their family to die.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think I think I totally agree with you And I think the gun violence epidemic is so big We can't sort of tackle it with one solution. This is a huge issue in our country And we need to separate out these different groups. You know responsible gun owners. That's a really different group than certain other people, and so the solutions are not just a one size fits all. And let's talk about having a safer community And who wants to be a part of that, and I think that's you know we can broadly agree as a large number of the population that we would like to have safe communities. So let's start, you know, spreading that instead of trying to deal with it all in one thing and thinking it has to be all or nothing or, you know, get on the floor of Congress. We can each sort of find a way to participate in having a safer community and country.
Speaker 3:And I think, too, what it goes to is, again, as Kelly, as you mentioned, like the power of storytelling, because one of the things we've learned from this podcast is that we can present all the academic information in the world And we can distill it to be as clear as possible, but what actually tends to have an impact on electives and then on allowing folks to feel like they can engage directly, or when people come on and say, like this is my story, this is what happened to me. So if you're saying that this isn't true, you're talking about me, you're talking about my kid, you're talking about my dad, and so I think having those stories, as you said, modeled like I can't knock, like we can't knock on every single door in Wisconsin and say here's a really important true story that happened, but you can model those stories In every house- and I think there are questions that people have that they're afraid to ask, like I was saying to two friends of mine who have little kids.
Speaker 1:I said what's the language you use when you drop your kid off for a play date to ask if there are Firearms in the house and if they're stored safely? you like locked. And they were like, oh, i don't ask that. And I was like, oh, okay, but I was like maybe we could find a way to ask that and like not for it to be weird or an affront, but if there was a normal, normalised way to say like, hey, you know, i'll be back in four o'clock. Are there any unlocked firearms in the house? Like can we just normalize how to do that as parents so that we have some? you know, i mean, a television is a great way to do that kind of thing.
Speaker 2:What allergies do you have?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I Always tell people to roll it in in the same questions I asked my Danny about.
Speaker 1:Like hey, it's so nice that like Oh no, this is what I really wanted to know. Come back, JJ.
Speaker 2:Hopefully, jj. Let's see She doesn't look like she got dropped off, so that's good.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Also squad cast. I think, oh, she'll, she'll come back. The cool thing about squad cast is that it actually will keep recording. Oh, that's cool. So like, let's say, she was talking if she was talking, but we can hear it, they will capture the audio, be safe. Yeah which is why this is a really good platform for For podcasting, because it like will keep going just why wasn't that happening on that audition?
Speaker 1:I was telling you I.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, we started with zoom and like, when we had to go, you know, into quarantine right me, i started with zoom and then we switched to podcast for that reason, because it it's like sending things to the cloud, right that way. Yeah, i'm not as tech savvy as JJ, i'm midway, i'm moderate. Okay but yeah, she didn't ping her, just to make sure she's okay.
Speaker 1:We should have battery tires.
Speaker 2:We'll see We'll see. It could have just been Oh, she's typing, she's alive. Oh, she said, the internet just went. Oh, so, which makes sense in a way, because I think the way, i think it's pretty windy outside.
Speaker 1:Where are you guys?
Speaker 2:So I'm in DC and she's in like northern Virginia. Look right outside. Cool, She says she's getting back on.
Speaker 1:Okay is it nicer today? It was raining here all weekend in New York.
Speaker 2:Um, it is Nicer than it was. It was raining here all weekend too, but it's still not like great great to me. I want to be 72 sunny. No, I feel like we're almost there.
Speaker 1:It was sunny this morning in New York when I went out to get a coffee and I was like, oh, thank goodness. Yeah little sunshine goes a lot with me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, friday was miserable here. It was like blustery, rainy and I had to go to the dentist like at the end of the day, and I remember I walked over um, because it was like this awkward distance where Walking was about the same and I got this and I was just soaking and I was like And you're the dentist. Yeah, it was quite the. It was a Rockin Friday night for me.
Speaker 3:Hi, I made it back.
Speaker 1:I'm so sorry What you were saying about how you think, how to model Asking when you drop up your kid if there are weapons in the house.
Speaker 3:Yeah, i literally like a transformer went and I was like They don't want me to share my nanny stories. Um, no, wait, yeah. So um, how, how I think modeling it tends to work and how I've been telling people to do it Is when you do that initial like first ever play date or have people over, is I've always like, hey, there's just a few like safety things. You know, any food Needs or requests, any medications? Do you have a pool? Are there any firearms in the house, like kind of the? I mean I'm from Pittsburgh, so the pool question as much doesn't come up, but I feel like LA probably.
Speaker 1:I like the pool question though, because it kind of is like I'm just a safety conscious parent And I'm worried about pools too. You know what I mean. Like you kind of just sandwich the Difficult one in there with the kind of more mundane ones, and it kind of.
Speaker 3:And I think mixing it together right, because then it feels less targeted, it's less like. well, why are they asking me about a firearm? Do they think I'm?
Speaker 1:I just care about safety.
Speaker 3:Yeah, i, just I. He can't have nuts, we don't. You know we keep, we keep halal in our home, and also like he needs floaties and sunscreen. And if you have a firearm in your house and you don't store it locked and loaded, separate ammunition, maybe that's a conversation that me and my family need to have about, like if we can have play dates at your house Or not that.
Speaker 1:I love that answer. I love that. I would love to see someone Do that checklist of yours.
Speaker 3:Right, like have a nice. I want to see, like some pta, like Conversation happen about it, like of who gets to go to a birthday party, who doesn't like. I think, because I think those are real conversations that are happening. But, as you mentioned, i think, like I, i know that I still, when people ask what I do for a living, one never want to tell people your podcaster. It's like telling people you're a writer. It's a bad, it's either, it's it's gonna be an awkward interaction. But then to follow that with you know I work for a gun violence prevention org. When I'm out in the world, like I don't necessarily know if someone's going to take that With grace or in an exciting way, or if they're going to you know if this is immediately Kelly, i think, even more so for you right, because I'm walking or something where you're trapped.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And I have, like I walk through the role as with, with white lady protection, right, so that's, but like is so is someone gonna make this a really uncomfortable interaction? Um, that maybe, like I don't want to have what, i'm just trying to get coffee or go to the airport, um, but the more it gets modeled Right, the the less awkward that interaction has to get, because the more people get used to it.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 3:I'm the safer we all are so.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna whisper that this conversation to um some writers who write shows that have like Children and parents, but I would love to see that too.
Speaker 3:We, we did have. We have like magnets and things we sent out for ask day, which is a day that Brady helped support um, that maybe I can connect you with through Renee to like send out If you actually want, like the pamphlets and things. But it included like have you asked your friends and family today?
Speaker 1:That's cool. What does?
Speaker 3:the magnet say. I think it's just like have you asked like it's a, it's a, it's a checklist, sort of thing?
Speaker 1:I like that a lot. That's really cool.
Speaker 3:It's useful, i'll. I'll connect with you on that and this part, the magnet part, i will cut, but It's just, it's just nice because it's again I've wondered it like when COVID opened up and you're going into family members houses again for, like, dinner parties and things like that, like What's around, what's in the house, well, and I think I want to be respectful of your time. So, kelly, do you want to go ahead? What did you say, kelly?
Speaker 2:Um, i was saying even you know same thing with pets, like there's so many different ways, and I'm actually gonna. I was looking for the links I could drop it in the chat. Oh cool, my internet's being kind of weird, let's see, it's just going a little slow.
Speaker 1:That's funny. Seems like it's the day I know.
Speaker 3:So while we're dropping it, kelly Piper, we'll ask you the final question. So this is the part where we pivot to you and put, kind of our guests in the hot seat. So we always ask folks when you're asked to come on a gun violence prevention podcast, besides being like, yay, this is the best, is there anything that you were like I absolutely want to discuss? I really hope that they bring up or that you really wanted to mention that we didn't cover today.
Speaker 1:Thanks, kelly, i see that you just linked that. Yeah, i think and I sort of preempted your end because what I really one of the things that I really want to know is what's a good way to ask when you're dropping your kids off for a play date, if there are firearms in the house. And I really liked how you talked about it, jj, how you say, like, okay, just a few quick safety things. He can't have nuts, is there a pool, are there any pets? Do you have any firearms in the house? Like that kind of sandwiching among other normal safety concerns.
Speaker 1:I think is a great way to do it. Great way to do it And also saying, you know, when people drop their kids off at your house, to say, hey, just so you know we don't have any firearms in the house. Or we do have firearms and they're unloaded and locked and the kids cannot get to them. The pool has a fence around it and my dog is so old he doesn't have any teeth. Like, let's just like put it in the safety group and like, as parents, we can normalize this So it doesn't have to be an awkward question and we can protect all our kids, which is, you know, something we all care about.
Speaker 3:Phenomenal, thank you. And so, piper, where can folks find you If, after listening to this, they're like I want to support her in everything And also I want to see her shows, show, safe storage appropriately and everything else?
Speaker 1:I right now I am on the season of Yellowstone and this season of billion spoiler alert, and you can find me on social media, at Piper caribou, on Instagram and Twitter, but only DM nice things. If you DM me a not nice thing, you're going to be blocked from subscribing into the web forever.
Speaker 3:Well, there we go. All right, all right. Well, i think I'm going to go.