Hollywood actors including Amy Schumer, Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo signed a letter published Monday calling for film and television productions to represent responsible gun handling. Also limit scenes with armed children.
The open letter , written in response to the recent shootings in Texas and New York, was also signed by producers JJ Abrams (“Lost”), Shonda Rhimes (“Bridgerton”) and Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy.
“ Cultural attitudes such as smoking, drunk driving, wearing seat belts and same-sex marriage have evolved in large part due to the influence of movies and television. It’s time to work on gun safety,” says the letter released by the Brady Campaign, a gun control nonprofit.
“We’re not asking you to stop using guns on screen. We ask writers, directors, and producers to be mindful of the issue of gun violence, and best practices to ensure the safe use of guns.”
The card indicates that weapons feature prominently in television , art, music, and movies around the world. However, “only the United States has an epidemic of gun violence. We have more weapons than people.”
EVERY YEAR, MORE THAN 40,000 PEOPLE ARE SHOOTED TO DEATH
Every year, more than 40,000 people are shot to death. “Our nation’s gun violence crisis touches nearly every fabric of American life. And while we must address the root of this problem, our nation’s weak gun laws, we can also drive life-saving social change. The creative community can play an important role in driving that change.”
Some of the suggested measures include showing the characters putting the safety on their weapons. And discuss before starting production if there are alternatives that could be used instead of weapons, without “sacrificing narrative integrity.”
The letter asks ” colleagues in the creative community to limit some scenes with children and weapons.” They note that firearms recently surpassed traffic accidents as the leading cause of death among US minors.
In 2020, 4,368 US children and adolescents up to the age of 19 were known to have died from firearms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
200 HOLLYWOOD PERSONALITIES AGAINST GUNS
The open letter is signed by more than 200 Hollywood personalities, including Jimmy Kimmel, Judd Apatow, Bill Lawrence, Damon Lindelof and Adam McKay.
He points out that guns “are heavily represented on television and in movies all over the world, but in the United States there is an epidemic of gun violence.”
“The responsibility lies with the lax gun control laws supported by these politicians who are more afraid of losing power than saving lives,” the text adds. “We didn’t cause the problem but we want to help fix it.”