July 7, 2023 • 31 mins
Actress, podcaster, and activist Caitlin McHugh Stamos joined hosts Kelly and JJ to discuss social good campaigns, gun safety in entertainment, and the power of language - all with an eye on our shared responsibility to tackle gun violence. We dissected the role of entertainment in shaping societal norms, particularly with respect to gun use, as well as role of emotions in decision-making and how it could be harnessed for the cause of gun safety.
Further reading:
How Can I Help? (How Can I Help Podcast)
Hollywood Actors, Directors, Creators Discuss Gun Safety (Brady)
Gun Guidelines for the Media (Hollywood Health and Society)
Please give mothers what we really want for Mother’s Day #PhoneCallsNotFlowers (CaitlinSkyBound)
Why moms are 'leading the charge' and asking for gun reform this Mother's Day (Yahoo!News)
'Yellowstone' and Hollywood's Quiet Pivot to Showing Gun Safety Onscreen (the Ankler)
House Roundtable: ‘Hollywood Has Been Due for a Reckoning’ (Variety)
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
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
This is the legal disclaimer, where I tell you
that the views, thoughts andopinions shared on this podcast
belong solely to our guests andhosts and not necessarily Brady
or Brady's affiliates.
Please note this podcastcontains discussions of violence
that some people may finddisturbing.
It's okay, we find itdisturbing.
Hey everybody, welcome back toanother Brassota for Ed Blue and
(00:44):
Brady.
I'm one of your hosts, jj, andtoday we are sitting down with
actress podcaster activistCaitlin McEw Stamos.
Caitlin is someone who isreally using her platforms to
fight for social good and anumber of areas, and that
includes gun violence.
If you've wondered how to meetpeople where they are, how to
(01:07):
start some social good campaignsand how to really use many of
us have limited time how to usethat limited time we have to
help combat gun violence,caitlin is the lady with answers
.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Hi, i'm Caitlin McEw Stamos and a new huge fan of all
things Brady.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Oh that's a fantastic .
That's the best intro we've hadso far.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
I think That's intro.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Yeah, we would love to know a little bit about you.
I mean, i know you as anactivist and I know you from now
stalking you on social media,but for our listeners who maybe
haven't done that yet, can youtell us a little bit about your
work and what you do?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I guess historically, i've been a model for 17 years
and done some acting work inthat time too.
I'm a mother of a five-year-oldand I have a podcast called How
Can I Help, where every episodeI focus on an issue facing the
world and I talk to people whoare trying to do something about
it, organizations and then also, if possible, a person that
(02:08):
they have helped to helphumanize issues in the world too
.
One of the episodes was on guns, responsible gun use and
responsible gun laws.
When I noticed, or how I felt,doing all these episodes, i
realized so many of our world'sproblems could be fixed if we
had a better functioninggovernment.
That made me get more intodifferent kinds of activism and
(02:34):
advocacy work and learning aboutbills and laws and figuring out
which politicians I want to bebacking in different ways and
also political groups that areworking to.
They were a similar mindset tome, like Brady.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
What motivated you to do an episode on guns and gun
violence and then to go furtherinto that space?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Well, definitely, just being an American with a
child who is of school age, ihave to say, every time for many
years that we see these highlypublicized mass shooting events,
i felt it in my heart andempathized with victims.
I try to vote in people whowant to see more responsible gun
(03:20):
laws, but I realized there'smore we can do.
There's more than just votingthat we should be doing and we
could be doing.
Even though I did this episodebefore Uvaldi, that first, I
guess, maybe because at thatpoint I had a child in preschool
and just realizing how muchtrust I was putting into the
(03:41):
world and putting my babysomewhere that I'm not at, i
ended up so stressed from thatevent.
I felt it in my bones for aboutthree weeks I could not let go
of the anxiety, the depression,all of the feels from that
(04:02):
particular, that one inparticular, and that really
drove me into wanting to doeverything that I could.
And most recently, we did aMother's Day campaign And I did
it with Emily Amick, who is onInstagram, is Emily in your
phone And she's had a hand inhelping write a lot of bills
(04:23):
that are hoping to hit the floordealing with gun safety.
And we were just asking hey,moms, you know, what do you
really want from Mother's DayFlowers?
No, i don't think so.
We want to keep our kids safein school, basically, and what
we can do about that, likecalling congressmen, making sure
our voice is heard, and I wantto do more things like that.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
I wonder if we can like kind of in that vein of
kind of doing more like that, orwhere that work comes from.
I wonder how you feel assomeone who, like you, are a
content creator, both throughlike the podcast And, as I said,
we stalk you on social media.
Everyone should.
We'll include a link in thedescription of this episode.
You're welcome, but you know,what sort of responsibility do
(05:04):
you feel as someone or ofputting things out in the world?
Do you feel that it's kind offrom that perspective, as a
creator, you have theresponsibility.
Do you feel like as a mom, as acitizen?
is it a mix of all of those?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Yes, like a mix of all of those.
I feel like it is.
I really feel like it's everyone of our responsibility to
hold each other in this, in thissociety.
I feel like, for some reason,people have taken pursuit of
happiness to be a veryindividualistic ideal, and the
way that I see it is I cannot behappy if my neighbor is not
(05:37):
happy, if my neighbor is scaredfor their life, if there is any
group of people who feel underattack in this country, then we
are not all in pursuit ofhappiness.
And so for me I feelresponsible as a citizen of this
country just the world as amother wanting to send a good
example for my kid.
(05:57):
And then also I recognize Ihave a lot of privilege in my
place in life in that I have thetime and I have the resources
to be able to do more than Icould have, say, 15 years ago,
in my 20s.
I was in a different place inlife and I was hustling and
(06:18):
trying to pay bills and stuff,and I'm living more comfortably,
and I feel like what I give tothe world needs to be at least
equal to what I have been givenin this world.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
So really, really wise observation about the
pursuit of happiness and howit's been individualized,
especially around guns and thisquote.
second amendment, and I'mwondering, as someone who you've
been very vocal in your socialmedia JJ said using your
platform to speak out about gunviolence and gun violence
prevention.
I'm wondering how?
(06:49):
How have the responses been tothat?
Has there been anything thatsurprised you entering into this
space?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
There's.
You kind of expect everything,you know, when you open yourself
up to the social media, etheryou're going to get it all back
And I have gotten it all backfrom beautiful responses from
people feeling inspired andwanting to use their voice too.
Because one thing I say yes, ihave.
You know, i'm not the mostpopular person on social media.
I have a little bit of afollowing in that blue check
(07:16):
mark, which is helpful for somethings.
But I say, if you have 10followers, that's still 10
people who care what you thinkand what you feel.
And so when you share yourthoughts and feelings and share
who you are and what you standfor, it's a way of connecting
with others.
And you know my podcast is notsuper popular.
(07:37):
Not a ton of people arelistening to it.
But I had, like one person sayhey, i listened to this episode
where you talked about peopleexperiencing homelessness and an
organization that's helpingpeople get off the streets.
I'm a foster mom and thebiological mother of one of
these kids is on the streets.
I'm going to get her connectedwith this organization so she
gets off.
So that's just one person, butthat could save a life, right?
(07:58):
So it doesn't matter how faryou reach you can have an impact
.
But because I have a few morefollowers and my stuff tends to
get you know you sometimes it'llreach people who don't follow
me and who may not agree with me, and I've had some.
I've actually had someconversations online.
If someone is willing to have aproductive conversation where
(08:19):
they can be respectful and havea back and forth with me, i
welcome that, and I've had somepeople comment.
I don't know if you read it, butI've gone back and forth on my
page, on my husband's page,about this Mother's Day campaign
in particular.
So just a short version of thescript for anyone who hasn't
seen it.
It was basically like eightmoms talking into camera saying,
(08:40):
hey, hon, some other day iscoming up And this year I don't
want flowers, whatever cutething you're planning.
What I want from you is to callyour Congressperson and to
demand action against gunviolence, because it is the
number one killer of ourchildren, and all I want for
Mother's Day this year is tostill celebrate next year.
And then we were officiallybacking a particular background
check bill that has like aboutlike 87% approval rate for both
(09:06):
Republicans and Democrats comeback and it's a very bipartisan
approval thing.
And yet I got quite a bit ofpushback from some people who
either did not pay attention tothe caption or who just I don't
know, just didn't.
It wasn't registering to them.
And I had some productiveconversations or a frequent
(09:28):
response that I got was this isall, mental illness, mental
illness is the problem.
And then to that I just keptsaying that is fantastic that
you support wanting to mentalhealth program.
So please, when you call aboutbackground checks, also mention
that you want to make sure thatmental health programs are well
funded, because currently thereis one party that is looking to
(09:50):
cut funding for those things.
So please, please, still calland tell your representatives
what you support.
And then there's another onethat was like you know, i'm
raising my kids with guns in thehouse and they're nearly adults
.
They've been safe and that'sgreat.
I'm a responsible gun owner.
That's awesome.
I'm so glad that your kids havegrown up in a safe environment
(10:14):
and you're responsible gun owner.
Wouldn't it be fantastic if wehad a program that made sure
that every owner was responsible, with things like safe storage
laws and background checks andpermits and all this stuff?
And he goes oh well, i guesswhen you put it that way, you
know so you can reach them.
Sometimes, you know, as long asyou come from a place you know,
I don't want to come from placeof you're wrong And this is why
(10:35):
I want to.
I want to say yes and as muchas possible, you know so.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Yeah, just like improv training your way through
all of those conversations.
Exactly, and I really doactually think you know as
someone who I can speak forKelly and I both as people who
run a niche podcast right, wetalk about gun violence on a
podcast like we're in, i think,a similar boat.
Right, we have folks thatlisten in and then every week,
and then folks that kind of juststumble across it because
they're looking for someinformation on something, and
(11:05):
even if somebody disagrees, ifthey listen to the whole episode
and then have thoughts andconcerns and like want to email
and talk about it in a way thatis respectful and is open, i'm
super excited to have peoplecome on.
We've had people come on tolike disagree and argue with us
like very openly, because Ithink it's useful and I do feel
like kind of one of the thingsthat has fallen out of style, i
(11:26):
think in our country is like anopen and respectful dialogue
where everybody's acting in goodfaith, and so the more you can
bring that back, the happierYeah absolutely Exactly, and so
I'm totally on any topic.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
I'm happy to discuss anything with anyone, as long as
you can stay respectful andkeep it about.
Even it doesn't even have to beexactly on topic, like there
are people who want to change itto be like the problem is
fatherless, fatherless housesand stuff like that.
I'm like, oh okay, all right.
All right, we'll talk aboutthis a little bit, but you're
getting off.
You're getting a more off topicnow.
You're starting anotherconversation, but I do try.
(11:57):
I try to stay engaged because,again, then we're not going to
get anywhere if we keep floatingfurther and further away
without having theseconversations.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
I do like to, and I want to point this out because I
think one of the things thatyour podcast does distill, and
what I think the Mother's Daycampaign showed, is that gun
violence is an intersectionalissue too.
It's not that you need to onlycare about gun violence and, by
saying that you care about gunviolence or gun violence
prevention, that you don't alsocare about poverty or folks
experiencing homelessness or allof those issues, like it's not
(12:31):
saying that this is the oneissue that magically fixes
everything, or that one billwill magically fix the problem.
Yes, okay, thank you care abouta lot of people and a lot of
things all at once.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
That was another comments that you have feeling.
Well, why don't you talk aboutchild trafficking?
That's a real problem.
Why don't you talk aboutfentanyl?
That's a real problem.
Like well, actually these areall issues that are affecting us
in society today and we can dosomething about all of them.
We don't have to just pick onething And yes, that is part of
what the podcast is about.
And even when it comes togun-related violence stuff,
(13:03):
people want it.
It's like oh well, it's thegang issue.
That's the real thing.
It's not the.
We don't really have to.
We don't really.
We shouldn't even be worryingabout the suicides, and we
shouldn't be.
Or the school shootings It's sorare, you don't have to worry
about that.
We should be worrying aboutthis sort of thing.
And I see, i think that everyissue plaguing our country is
(13:24):
something worth giving someattention to and at least
working on fixing.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Yeah, and one of the ways I know that you've
participated in this, inaddition to your podcast and
using your platform, is the ShowYour Safety Initiative, which
is a Brady project, where it'sreally bringing together
individuals in the film and TVand storytelling industries to
really think about the way thatwe depict guns in our culture.
And I'm wondering what made youinterested even in that
(13:58):
particular aspect, because somepeople might say who cares about
TV?
It's just entertainment.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Who cares?
We shouldn't be talking aboutthe media.
We should be talking about.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Again, it's another thing that people like to say.
They want to shut you up on onething and try to focus on other
things, all the other shinythings.
But, like I said, i feel likeall these problems are they're
all multifaceted.
We have to attack from everyangle that we can.
And, yes, i decided to jump onto Show Your Safety because I
(14:27):
feel like entertainment can't itdoes affect culture.
We've seen examples of this inthe past.
A few of them, like way backduring World War II, world War I
, we used entertainment to beable to say, hey, let's pay our
taxes because this will help usfund the World War II and our
(14:51):
guys who are abroad.
And before then, paying taxesis not a big thing.
And then, when it came to seatbelts, when they were new back
in the 50s or whatever, theyweren't widely used.
And then, when they startedseeing TV and film stars, you
suddenly became second nature.
And with smoking, it was verycool to be smoking in film.
(15:14):
And then now you don't see itas much and numbers have gone
down.
And those aren't the onlythings that helped lower those
numbers of smoking or to keeppeople safe in cars.
There were other things thatwere done as well, but it was
part of it.
And so, even though, yes, thereare other countries that can
(15:35):
see all those violence andthings, and they're fine and
they're not shooting everybodyup, and it's because they have a
bunch of laws protecting them,and until we have those laws
protecting us, let's figure outother ways that we can find some
ways to help too.
So, in Hollywood, what could bedone in TV and film?
I'm even a very small scale ofhey, you know what?
when the cop in the show comeshome, instead of first going
(15:56):
into the fridge, why don't wesee him put his gun into a safe?
Why don't we show some howsafes can be cool, even Like
there's ways of filming things.
It'd be cool, and wouldn't itbe awesome if, when we're
showing people shooting guns, toshow more of the reality, of
what it is, instead of making itlook like, oh, this guy's cool
(16:16):
and in charge and in control,let's show what it's like, what
it's really like, cause I don'tthink anyone is pulling a
trigger, who is not scared, whois not possibly angry, i don't
think it's just people who arein control who are holding guns
and to show more of that as well.
So that's a couple of things,and so it actually started
(16:37):
before me before I jumped onthis tour of safety.
It was a letter that went aroundHollywood and hundreds of
people ended up signing onsaying that they are going to
show more responsible gun use inTV and film.
And then the White House wasinterested in that conversation
as well and invited TV and filmproducers and writers to come,
and it was a nice littlediscussion, and now we're hoping
(17:00):
to continue that.
We wanted to grow theconversation, cause there's
thousands of writers.
As it turns out, they're allpicking right now.
There's so many in front of thestudios, and so we're kind of
fortunate right now in that,because writers are currently
striking.
As we're recording this,writers have time to be
pondering these things, sohopefully when they get back to
(17:22):
work they'll have some goodstory ideas and showing guns in
different ways that might helpus out a little bit.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
And it's like that slow slide of normalization,
because I think, cause I feellike we're kind of all around in
the same general age group AndI know that for me growing up I
think every TV show likeespecially like the school after
school sitcom types, thingseverybody had, like the
anti-drunk driving, episode Likeit weaved into the narrative.
And now I think to today whenI'm watching kind of shows of a
similar vein.
(17:49):
It's when the characters areleaving the bar.
it's always ordering an Uber,ordering a Lyft, like that is
just a thing that people defaultto, because that is if we
become habituated that we don'ttolerate drunk driving.
So the good characters alwaysget a cab, always have a ride,
always have something sort ofplanned.
They're not getting behind thewheel and that that's just kind
of written in as just anotherbeat in the plot.
(18:11):
And I would love to see thatkind of thing happen with guns
as well.
Right, that it's just.
You put it in the safe, youtake it out of the safe.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Yeah, i think we are gonna see more of that, which is
promising And will, i believe,have an impact on our culture.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
You made a point earlier about yes anding and
engaging with people who maybethey I agree with you more than
they realize, and I'm wonderingtoo if there are ways that
entertainment Could help havethat conversation.
You know you can't talk toevery single person, But some of
the additions that you weretalking about, if those are ways
(18:50):
to further what you're doing asan individual, But through
entertainment as well.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
That's definitely the goal, it's definitely the hope
and also want it, just wantingto get people with bigger
platforms Who are like mindedand helping them realize that
they do have a voice like this.
And then I and I think it took awhile for me to realize that
too for a long time I was doingmy own thing, kind of quietly
right and not kind of not reallyrealizing that Entertainment,
(19:16):
whether it's social media, tv orfilm were avenues that I could
use my, my voice for somehopefully good you know for, to
make it impact in a positive way, and And and I'm just hoping
that more people realize that wehave more power than we think
we do in all of those mediums.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Well, and I love them like the Mother's Day angle as
well that y'all took on, becauseI feel like that's also like an
under Underappreciated in termsof like voice in this country.
But I think of like mom'sdemand or even like the million
mom March, like you know, whenyou think of kind of the modern
gun violence prevention movement, like in many ways, like that
was moms Yeah, taking that oninitially who are normally like
(19:56):
quiet because they're busy.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
We're very, very busy and you know We're, and I think
that a lot of people sort ofput us and we belong in a
certain place, you know in thekitchen or whatever, and I think
that, and sometimes we do it toourselves, sometimes it's
society telling us where webelong.
I'm sure a lot of people try totell me where I belong And and
I and I again is a lot of it'sjust like recognizing that no,
(20:19):
we, our voices, are important,they are valid, they are their
perspectives that are needed outthere.
In fact, i'm.
Another thing I'm involved withis vote mama, which is an
organization that's working toget more mothers of young
children in office, from schoolboard up into Congress and
hopefully beyond, and That is.
And this week I really feellike and again this goes back to
(20:41):
the earlier in the conversationwhere it was when I became a
mother of a school-aged childthat It really pushed me into
action in a way that I hadn'tbefore, like, yeah, i'd shown up
to, you know, to marches, andagain I voted, but I but I
wasn't doing everything, iwasn't spending most of my
waking time Trying to improvethe world until I had someone I
in particular I was doing it for.
(21:02):
So in a lot of ways it's aselfish thing.
It's because I love this kid somuch and I want to leave the
world better and safer for him,and and and I and I want for
more of us to do that and notwait until Tragedy strikes to
feel like I can take ownershipof an issue, for example.
(21:22):
This is kind of getting off alittle bit of what we're saying,
but there are.
There are our victims orsurvivors of gun violence that
become the face of Of the fight,and I don't think it's fair to
put them on It, to give so muchresponsibility, to put the
burden of fighting all ofsociety's Fights on them,
(21:46):
because they're already goingthrough enough.
Those of us who have only beentraumatized from afar, like I,
do feel traumatized by by all ofthese gun shootings But I'm not
, i was not at any and I havenot Thoughts and prayers for
hopefully I won't happen.
That won't happen to me, but itis more likely in our country.
But anyways, i want to get intothat fight before it happens to
(22:07):
me.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
I want to get into that fight to prevent any more
from happening and to relievethe burden from survivors as
much as possible, because it'snot just their fight, it is all
of our fight, and we can't bewaiting until It happens to us
to join in and I'm wondering,since you've engaged more in
this fight, are there any thingsthat you learned or any myths
(22:27):
that have been debunked, as youI mean it sounded like you were
always, sort of you know infavor of gun safety and
responsible gun laws, but I'mcurious if what lessons you've
learned or how being engaged andshow your safety and some of
these are Impacting what you'redoing going forward.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
I think so much of it is language and in years, right
when I went, many I Would saythat even three or four years
ago, i would say gun control,right, and now I would, i would,
i would stay away from thatword, control, i would air, i
would.
I would choose gun safety,responsible gun laws,
responsible gun owners, becauseI feel like that's an easier way
(23:04):
of connecting.
So instead of wanting to fightpeople, right, i want to connect
.
I want to try to understand andbe curious instead of Judge, be
judgmental and hate right back,and so that's sort of the stuff
that I've been learning thepast several years, learning how
to engage in healthier ways.
(23:26):
And one thing I'm trying tolearn more right myself right
now, for myself too is is To tryto fight the fight without
getting too angry, right, youknow, like to stay calm and keep
on with being productive and tonot sit and wallow and get and
And to not sit and despair fortoo long.
(23:47):
But, yeah, but if I feel likewhat I've learned the most is is
language, how importantlanguages in in connecting and
then also wanting to be surethat, and trying to talk to, to
people where, wherever they areat you know, meet them where
they are at.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
That's a really hard lesson, i think, no matter what
area of like, of activism you'reinvolved in too, especially
when you're talking aboutsomething that is inherently
perceived as being political.
Right of like, how, how to meetfolks and from a perspective of
where they don't think thatyou're trying to get something
over on them Or that you don'tthink that, based on their
opinion, that they're not smartor that they're a bad person, i
(24:23):
think.
But to come in and say like,but like you, nevertheless, like
this is true, these things aretrue, these things are not true.
And then how to go from there?
Like it's a hard.
It's a hard like tap dance, thefirst couple times you do it,
to like figure out where it is,especially if you're like a
people pleaser by nature.
Like it's a hard, it's a hard.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
You know road to go down, and that's another
difficult thing to do too, orrealization to come to as well,
is that we are not intellectualbeings.
Truth does not matter, and alot of people's arguments with
this or what they consider to befacts, are not the same set of
facts you're working with, andwhen you're looking at different
(25:04):
numbers of things, it's like Isay something I would say
frequently.
Right is that guns are thenumber one killer of children,
and it's well documented thatthat is the case.
But the amount of people thatwere coming at me about how
that's not true.
Those numbers are inflated.
They're taking into accountthings they shouldn't be with
those numbers, fentanyl isreally the biggest killer of
children right now.
(25:24):
It was just like.
So it's hard to it's hard tohave a discussion about facts.
And the other thing we got torealize that we are emotional
beings and that we are making alot of we are.
I learned this from Brené Brown.
She's so smart, but she talkedto it in an Atlas of the Heart.
She talks about how we are notall intellectual beings, we are
emotional beings.
With two people Can you say I'ma Dodgers fan and there's a I
(25:48):
don't know some other supportteam They're playing.
I don't know sports very wellAnd we could be looking at the
same playback And I will saythat it was the opponents who
did the foul, or whatever.
And they will say, no, it wasmy team, the Dodgers, who did,
even though we're looking at thesame video.
And that is because we areemotional beings and our
emotional ties and our loyaltyto our own group is more
(26:11):
important to us than the truth.
So that's another interestingand important thing to realize
when you're having these kindsof conversations too.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
I think, too, one of the things that's good, i think,
or at least that I really enjoy, about your Mother's Day
campaign is that I also think itacknowledges that, like when
you're meeting people where theyare, like everyone has a
different ability in terms oflike time or capacity, And so
doing something like I want youto make a phone call, i want you
to send an email, like thatdoesn't cost any money, it
doesn't take a long amount oftime And it gives you sort of, i
(26:44):
think, different options tofeel engaged.
Because I know that a few of myfriends who are moms like sent
me little screenshots of lettersthey were sending to be like Oh
, they were like, oh, there'ssomething you're doing.
And I was like, actually,there's a whole bunch of
different folks out there thatdo this sort of work.
That's really great.
This is just kind of an arm ofit.
And then I got to brag that Iwas like I'm talking to one of
the people involved in it.
(27:05):
You should listen, yeah, but youcan do that in between, you
know, while you're on the Metrogoing to work.
You can do that while you'rewaiting to pick up a kid, or
like while you're waiting forthe baby to fall asleep.
It doesn't.
Whereas I love when people comeout for marches, but, like,
that can take time, that cantake money.
You need childcare, you needthe ability to go.
This is a very private andquick thing, and so giving
(27:30):
people options to be engaged atdifferent levels is, i think,
really huge too.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Yeah, that was my favorite part about this
campaign that we were not askingfor any money Because there are
so many different fantasticorganizations like Brady who are
doing this good work, but thatwe really wanted to make sure
that everyone could get involvedwith this and feel like they
are accomplishing something.
And it was really remarkablehow many people wrote in saying
you know, i didn't even knowthat this was something I could
(27:55):
do to try to effect change oryou know, something I always
wanted to do, but I was kind ofnervous about making this call.
But because you provided ascript, you made it really easy
and it wasn't scary at all, andnow I feel more comfortable
calling about other things thatI care about, because the whole
point is of it, this is just thebeginning, right, like.
This was a little taste of whatI want to, what we're hoping to
accomplish, which is to getmany more people much more
(28:18):
active in democracy.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
It reminded me a lot of.
I don't know if you've read VoteGun, which is a new book that
just came out but talks abouthow, like, the gun lobby got so
politically powerful And likekind of took over different
aspects of our democracy.
But one of the things that theymentioned there is even when
the NRA is was pushing for, like, particular bills or different
legislation that is not popularamongst the majority of
(28:40):
Americans.
They still overwhelmed senatorsand congressmen with the number
of letters and phone calls thatwould come in.
So, even though, on the ground,87% of Americans would be
supporting background checkbills, it didn't look like that,
because those Americans whowere supporting those bills
weren't calling in to say, hey,i support.
It's much more common forpeople to write it and say I
don't support something, yes,right.
(29:01):
And so You have electives thenwho get overwhelmed and think,
well, this thing is more popular.
I'm gonna take flak if I don'tvote for this, but this is kind
of the the opposite of that samelike.
Let's get this ground to allpeople who actually all agree,
like Share their opinions.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Yeah, so that's that's, and it's an exciting
time, i think to be, to begetting involved.
I mean it it's unfortunate thatwe're having to get pushed so
far in the direction We don'twant to go into, to activate
this in us, in us.
But better late than never.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Well, and on that note of togetherness, if people
want to find you and find yourwork Whether it's like with vote
, mama, or or other things thatyou're working on where can
folks find you?
Speaker 2 (29:40):
I am Caitlyn skybound on Instagram and you can check
out my podcast I need anywhereyou can listen to it.
We also have a website.
How can I help pod comm withlinks to where you can listen to
it on Apple and Spotify, andAnd?
and.
Thank you all for thisconversation and for listening.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Thank you for working so hard.
Truly yeah, the more people wehave in, the better.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Yes, we need it, all We need all hands on deck
everybody big party.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Yes, hey want to share with the podcast.
listeners can now get in touchwith us here at red, blue and
Brady via phone or text message.
Simply call or text us at 480744 3452 with your thoughts.
Questions concerns ideas, catpictures, whatever thanks for
(30:28):
listening.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
As always, brady's life-saving work in Congress,
the courts and communitiesacross the country is made
possible.
Thanks to you.
For more information on Bradyor how to get involved in the
fight against gun violence,please like and subscribe to the
podcast.
Get in touch with us at BradyUnited org or on social at Brady
buzz.
Be brave and remember.
Take action, not sides You.
This is the legal disclaimer, where I tell you
that the views, thoughts andopinions shared on this podcast
belong solely to our guests andhosts and not necessarily Brady
or Brady's affiliates.
Please note this podcastcontains discussions of violence
that some people may finddisturbing.
It's okay, we find itdisturbing.
Hey everybody, welcome back toanother Brassota for Ed Blue and
(00:44):
Brady.
I'm one of your hosts, jj, andtoday we are sitting down with
actress podcaster activistCaitlin McEw Stamos.
Caitlin is someone who isreally using her platforms to
fight for social good and anumber of areas, and that
includes gun violence.
If you've wondered how to meetpeople where they are, how to
(01:07):
start some social good campaignsand how to really use many of
us have limited time how to usethat limited time we have to
help combat gun violence,caitlin is the lady with answers
.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Hi, i'm Caitlin McEw Stamos and a new huge fan of all
things Brady.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Oh that's a fantastic .
That's the best intro we've hadso far.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
I think That's intro.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Yeah, we would love to know a little bit about you.
I mean, i know you as anactivist and I know you from now
stalking you on social media,but for our listeners who maybe
haven't done that yet, can youtell us a little bit about your
work and what you do?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I guess historically, i've been a model for 17 years
and done some acting work inthat time too.
I'm a mother of a five-year-oldand I have a podcast called How
Can I Help, where every episodeI focus on an issue facing the
world and I talk to people whoare trying to do something about
it, organizations and then also, if possible, a person that
(02:08):
they have helped to helphumanize issues in the world too
.
One of the episodes was on guns, responsible gun use and
responsible gun laws.
When I noticed, or how I felt,doing all these episodes, i
realized so many of our world'sproblems could be fixed if we
had a better functioninggovernment.
That made me get more intodifferent kinds of activism and
(02:34):
advocacy work and learning aboutbills and laws and figuring out
which politicians I want to bebacking in different ways and
also political groups that areworking to.
They were a similar mindset tome, like Brady.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
What motivated you to do an episode on guns and gun
violence and then to go furtherinto that space?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Well, definitely, just being an American with a
child who is of school age, ihave to say, every time for many
years that we see these highlypublicized mass shooting events,
i felt it in my heart andempathized with victims.
I try to vote in people whowant to see more responsible gun
(03:20):
laws, but I realized there'smore we can do.
There's more than just votingthat we should be doing and we
could be doing.
Even though I did this episodebefore Uvaldi, that first, I
guess, maybe because at thatpoint I had a child in preschool
and just realizing how muchtrust I was putting into the
(03:41):
world and putting my babysomewhere that I'm not at, i
ended up so stressed from thatevent.
I felt it in my bones for aboutthree weeks I could not let go
of the anxiety, the depression,all of the feels from that
(04:02):
particular, that one inparticular, and that really
drove me into wanting to doeverything that I could.
And most recently, we did aMother's Day campaign And I did
it with Emily Amick, who is onInstagram, is Emily in your
phone And she's had a hand inhelping write a lot of bills
(04:23):
that are hoping to hit the floordealing with gun safety.
And we were just asking hey,moms, you know, what do you
really want from Mother's DayFlowers?
No, i don't think so.
We want to keep our kids safein school, basically, and what
we can do about that, likecalling congressmen, making sure
our voice is heard, and I wantto do more things like that.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
I wonder if we can like kind of in that vein of
kind of doing more like that, orwhere that work comes from.
I wonder how you feel assomeone who, like you, are a
content creator, both throughlike the podcast And, as I said,
we stalk you on social media.
Everyone should.
We'll include a link in thedescription of this episode.
You're welcome, but you know,what sort of responsibility do
(05:04):
you feel as someone or ofputting things out in the world?
Do you feel that it's kind offrom that perspective, as a
creator, you have theresponsibility.
Do you feel like as a mom, as acitizen?
is it a mix of all of those?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Yes, like a mix of all of those.
I feel like it is.
I really feel like it's everyone of our responsibility to
hold each other in this, in thissociety.
I feel like, for some reason,people have taken pursuit of
happiness to be a veryindividualistic ideal, and the
way that I see it is I cannot behappy if my neighbor is not
(05:37):
happy, if my neighbor is scaredfor their life, if there is any
group of people who feel underattack in this country, then we
are not all in pursuit ofhappiness.
And so for me I feelresponsible as a citizen of this
country just the world as amother wanting to send a good
example for my kid.
(05:57):
And then also I recognize Ihave a lot of privilege in my
place in life in that I have thetime and I have the resources
to be able to do more than Icould have, say, 15 years ago,
in my 20s.
I was in a different place inlife and I was hustling and
(06:18):
trying to pay bills and stuff,and I'm living more comfortably,
and I feel like what I give tothe world needs to be at least
equal to what I have been givenin this world.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
So really, really wise observation about the
pursuit of happiness and howit's been individualized,
especially around guns and thisquote.
second amendment, and I'mwondering, as someone who you've
been very vocal in your socialmedia JJ said using your
platform to speak out about gunviolence and gun violence
prevention.
I'm wondering how?
(06:49):
How have the responses been tothat?
Has there been anything thatsurprised you entering into this
space?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
There's.
You kind of expect everything,you know, when you open yourself
up to the social media, etheryou're going to get it all back
And I have gotten it all backfrom beautiful responses from
people feeling inspired andwanting to use their voice too.
Because one thing I say yes, ihave.
You know, i'm not the mostpopular person on social media.
I have a little bit of afollowing in that blue check
(07:16):
mark, which is helpful for somethings.
But I say, if you have 10followers, that's still 10
people who care what you thinkand what you feel.
And so when you share yourthoughts and feelings and share
who you are and what you standfor, it's a way of connecting
with others.
And you know my podcast is notsuper popular.
(07:37):
Not a ton of people arelistening to it.
But I had, like one person sayhey, i listened to this episode
where you talked about peopleexperiencing homelessness and an
organization that's helpingpeople get off the streets.
I'm a foster mom and thebiological mother of one of
these kids is on the streets.
I'm going to get her connectedwith this organization so she
gets off.
So that's just one person, butthat could save a life, right?
(07:58):
So it doesn't matter how faryou reach you can have an impact
.
But because I have a few morefollowers and my stuff tends to
get you know you sometimes it'llreach people who don't follow
me and who may not agree with me, and I've had some.
I've actually had someconversations online.
If someone is willing to have aproductive conversation where
(08:19):
they can be respectful and havea back and forth with me, i
welcome that, and I've had somepeople comment.
I don't know if you read it, butI've gone back and forth on my
page, on my husband's page,about this Mother's Day campaign
in particular.
So just a short version of thescript for anyone who hasn't
seen it.
It was basically like eightmoms talking into camera saying,
(08:40):
hey, hon, some other day iscoming up And this year I don't
want flowers, whatever cutething you're planning.
What I want from you is to callyour Congressperson and to
demand action against gunviolence, because it is the
number one killer of ourchildren, and all I want for
Mother's Day this year is tostill celebrate next year.
And then we were officiallybacking a particular background
check bill that has like aboutlike 87% approval rate for both
(09:06):
Republicans and Democrats comeback and it's a very bipartisan
approval thing.
And yet I got quite a bit ofpushback from some people who
either did not pay attention tothe caption or who just I don't
know, just didn't.
It wasn't registering to them.
And I had some productiveconversations or a frequent
(09:28):
response that I got was this isall, mental illness, mental
illness is the problem.
And then to that I just keptsaying that is fantastic that
you support wanting to mentalhealth program.
So please, when you call aboutbackground checks, also mention
that you want to make sure thatmental health programs are well
funded, because currently thereis one party that is looking to
(09:50):
cut funding for those things.
So please, please, still calland tell your representatives
what you support.
And then there's another onethat was like you know, i'm
raising my kids with guns in thehouse and they're nearly adults
.
They've been safe and that'sgreat.
I'm a responsible gun owner.
That's awesome.
I'm so glad that your kids havegrown up in a safe environment
(10:14):
and you're responsible gun owner.
Wouldn't it be fantastic if wehad a program that made sure
that every owner was responsible, with things like safe storage
laws and background checks andpermits and all this stuff?
And he goes oh well, i guesswhen you put it that way, you
know so you can reach them.
Sometimes, you know, as long asyou come from a place you know,
I don't want to come from placeof you're wrong And this is why
(10:35):
I want to.
I want to say yes and as muchas possible, you know so.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Yeah, just like improv training your way through
all of those conversations.
Exactly, and I really doactually think you know as
someone who I can speak forKelly and I both as people who
run a niche podcast right, wetalk about gun violence on a
podcast like we're in, i think,a similar boat.
Right, we have folks thatlisten in and then every week,
and then folks that kind of juststumble across it because
they're looking for someinformation on something, and
(11:05):
even if somebody disagrees, ifthey listen to the whole episode
and then have thoughts andconcerns and like want to email
and talk about it in a way thatis respectful and is open, i'm
super excited to have peoplecome on.
We've had people come on tolike disagree and argue with us
like very openly, because Ithink it's useful and I do feel
like kind of one of the thingsthat has fallen out of style, i
(11:26):
think in our country is like anopen and respectful dialogue
where everybody's acting in goodfaith, and so the more you can
bring that back, the happierYeah absolutely Exactly, and so
I'm totally on any topic.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
I'm happy to discuss anything with anyone, as long as
you can stay respectful andkeep it about.
Even it doesn't even have to beexactly on topic, like there
are people who want to change itto be like the problem is
fatherless, fatherless housesand stuff like that.
I'm like, oh okay, all right.
All right, we'll talk aboutthis a little bit, but you're
getting off.
You're getting a more off topicnow.
You're starting anotherconversation, but I do try.
(11:57):
I try to stay engaged because,again, then we're not going to
get anywhere if we keep floatingfurther and further away
without having theseconversations.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
I do like to, and I want to point this out because I
think one of the things thatyour podcast does distill, and
what I think the Mother's Daycampaign showed, is that gun
violence is an intersectionalissue too.
It's not that you need to onlycare about gun violence and, by
saying that you care about gunviolence or gun violence
prevention, that you don't alsocare about poverty or folks
experiencing homelessness or allof those issues, like it's not
(12:31):
saying that this is the oneissue that magically fixes
everything, or that one billwill magically fix the problem.
Yes, okay, thank you care abouta lot of people and a lot of
things all at once.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
That was another comments that you have feeling.
Well, why don't you talk aboutchild trafficking?
That's a real problem.
Why don't you talk aboutfentanyl?
That's a real problem.
Like well, actually these areall issues that are affecting us
in society today and we can dosomething about all of them.
We don't have to just pick onething And yes, that is part of
what the podcast is about.
And even when it comes togun-related violence stuff,
(13:03):
people want it.
It's like oh well, it's thegang issue.
That's the real thing.
It's not the.
We don't really have to.
We don't really.
We shouldn't even be worryingabout the suicides, and we
shouldn't be.
Or the school shootings It's sorare, you don't have to worry
about that.
We should be worrying aboutthis sort of thing.
And I see, i think that everyissue plaguing our country is
(13:24):
something worth giving someattention to and at least
working on fixing.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Yeah, and one of the ways I know that you've
participated in this, inaddition to your podcast and
using your platform, is the ShowYour Safety Initiative, which
is a Brady project, where it'sreally bringing together
individuals in the film and TVand storytelling industries to
really think about the way thatwe depict guns in our culture.
And I'm wondering what made youinterested even in that
(13:58):
particular aspect, because somepeople might say who cares about
TV?
It's just entertainment.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Who cares?
We shouldn't be talking aboutthe media.
We should be talking about.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Again, it's another thing that people like to say.
They want to shut you up on onething and try to focus on other
things, all the other shinythings.
But, like I said, i feel likeall these problems are they're
all multifaceted.
We have to attack from everyangle that we can.
And, yes, i decided to jump onto Show Your Safety because I
(14:27):
feel like entertainment can't itdoes affect culture.
We've seen examples of this inthe past.
A few of them, like way backduring World War II, world War I
, we used entertainment to beable to say, hey, let's pay our
taxes because this will help usfund the World War II and our
(14:51):
guys who are abroad.
And before then, paying taxesis not a big thing.
And then, when it came to seatbelts, when they were new back
in the 50s or whatever, theyweren't widely used.
And then, when they startedseeing TV and film stars, you
suddenly became second nature.
And with smoking, it was verycool to be smoking in film.
(15:14):
And then now you don't see itas much and numbers have gone
down.
And those aren't the onlythings that helped lower those
numbers of smoking or to keeppeople safe in cars.
There were other things thatwere done as well, but it was
part of it.
And so, even though, yes, thereare other countries that can
(15:35):
see all those violence andthings, and they're fine and
they're not shooting everybodyup, and it's because they have a
bunch of laws protecting them,and until we have those laws
protecting us, let's figure outother ways that we can find some
ways to help too.
So, in Hollywood, what could bedone in TV and film?
I'm even a very small scale ofhey, you know what?
when the cop in the show comeshome, instead of first going
(15:56):
into the fridge, why don't wesee him put his gun into a safe?
Why don't we show some howsafes can be cool, even Like
there's ways of filming things.
It'd be cool, and wouldn't itbe awesome if, when we're
showing people shooting guns, toshow more of the reality, of
what it is, instead of making itlook like, oh, this guy's cool
(16:16):
and in charge and in control,let's show what it's like, what
it's really like, cause I don'tthink anyone is pulling a
trigger, who is not scared, whois not possibly angry, i don't
think it's just people who arein control who are holding guns
and to show more of that as well.
So that's a couple of things,and so it actually started
(16:37):
before me before I jumped onthis tour of safety.
It was a letter that went aroundHollywood and hundreds of
people ended up signing onsaying that they are going to
show more responsible gun use inTV and film.
And then the White House wasinterested in that conversation
as well and invited TV and filmproducers and writers to come,
and it was a nice littlediscussion, and now we're hoping
(17:00):
to continue that.
We wanted to grow theconversation, cause there's
thousands of writers.
As it turns out, they're allpicking right now.
There's so many in front of thestudios, and so we're kind of
fortunate right now in that,because writers are currently
striking.
As we're recording this,writers have time to be
pondering these things, sohopefully when they get back to
(17:22):
work they'll have some goodstory ideas and showing guns in
different ways that might helpus out a little bit.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
And it's like that slow slide of normalization,
because I think, cause I feellike we're kind of all around in
the same general age group AndI know that for me growing up I
think every TV show likeespecially like the school after
school sitcom types, thingseverybody had, like the
anti-drunk driving, episode Likeit weaved into the narrative.
And now I think to today whenI'm watching kind of shows of a
similar vein.
(17:49):
It's when the characters areleaving the bar.
it's always ordering an Uber,ordering a Lyft, like that is
just a thing that people defaultto, because that is if we
become habituated that we don'ttolerate drunk driving.
So the good characters alwaysget a cab, always have a ride,
always have something sort ofplanned.
They're not getting behind thewheel and that that's just kind
of written in as just anotherbeat in the plot.
(18:11):
And I would love to see thatkind of thing happen with guns
as well.
Right, that it's just.
You put it in the safe, youtake it out of the safe.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Yeah, i think we are gonna see more of that, which is
promising And will, i believe,have an impact on our culture.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
You made a point earlier about yes anding and
engaging with people who maybethey I agree with you more than
they realize, and I'm wonderingtoo if there are ways that
entertainment Could help havethat conversation.
You know you can't talk toevery single person, But some of
the additions that you weretalking about, if those are ways
(18:50):
to further what you're doing asan individual, But through
entertainment as well.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
That's definitely the goal, it's definitely the hope
and also want it, just wantingto get people with bigger
platforms Who are like mindedand helping them realize that
they do have a voice like this.
And then I and I think it took awhile for me to realize that
too for a long time I was doingmy own thing, kind of quietly
right and not kind of not reallyrealizing that Entertainment,
(19:16):
whether it's social media, tv orfilm were avenues that I could
use my, my voice for somehopefully good you know for, to
make it impact in a positive way, and And and I'm just hoping
that more people realize that wehave more power than we think
we do in all of those mediums.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Well, and I love them like the Mother's Day angle as
well that y'all took on, becauseI feel like that's also like an
under Underappreciated in termsof like voice in this country.
But I think of like mom'sdemand or even like the million
mom March, like you know, whenyou think of kind of the modern
gun violence prevention movement, like in many ways, like that
was moms Yeah, taking that oninitially who are normally like
(19:56):
quiet because they're busy.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
We're very, very busy and you know We're, and I think
that a lot of people sort ofput us and we belong in a
certain place, you know in thekitchen or whatever, and I think
that, and sometimes we do it toourselves, sometimes it's
society telling us where webelong.
I'm sure a lot of people try totell me where I belong And and
I and I again is a lot of it'sjust like recognizing that no,
(20:19):
we, our voices, are important,they are valid, they are their
perspectives that are needed outthere.
In fact, i'm.
Another thing I'm involved withis vote mama, which is an
organization that's working toget more mothers of young
children in office, from schoolboard up into Congress and
hopefully beyond, and That is.
And this week I really feellike and again this goes back to
(20:41):
the earlier in the conversationwhere it was when I became a
mother of a school-aged childthat It really pushed me into
action in a way that I hadn'tbefore, like, yeah, i'd shown up
to, you know, to marches, andagain I voted, but I but I
wasn't doing everything, iwasn't spending most of my
waking time Trying to improvethe world until I had someone I
in particular I was doing it for.
(21:02):
So in a lot of ways it's aselfish thing.
It's because I love this kid somuch and I want to leave the
world better and safer for him,and and and I and I want for
more of us to do that and notwait until Tragedy strikes to
feel like I can take ownershipof an issue, for example.
(21:22):
This is kind of getting off alittle bit of what we're saying,
but there are.
There are our victims orsurvivors of gun violence that
become the face of Of the fight,and I don't think it's fair to
put them on It, to give so muchresponsibility, to put the
burden of fighting all ofsociety's Fights on them,
(21:46):
because they're already goingthrough enough.
Those of us who have only beentraumatized from afar, like I,
do feel traumatized by by all ofthese gun shootings But I'm not
, i was not at any and I havenot Thoughts and prayers for
hopefully I won't happen.
That won't happen to me, but itis more likely in our country.
But anyways, i want to get intothat fight before it happens to
(22:07):
me.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
I want to get into that fight to prevent any more
from happening and to relievethe burden from survivors as
much as possible, because it'snot just their fight, it is all
of our fight, and we can't bewaiting until It happens to us
to join in and I'm wondering,since you've engaged more in
this fight, are there any thingsthat you learned or any myths
(22:27):
that have been debunked, as youI mean it sounded like you were
always, sort of you know infavor of gun safety and
responsible gun laws, but I'mcurious if what lessons you've
learned or how being engaged andshow your safety and some of
these are Impacting what you'redoing going forward.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
I think so much of it is language and in years, right
when I went, many I Would saythat even three or four years
ago, i would say gun control,right, and now I would, i would,
i would stay away from thatword, control, i would air, i
would.
I would choose gun safety,responsible gun laws,
responsible gun owners, becauseI feel like that's an easier way
(23:04):
of connecting.
So instead of wanting to fightpeople, right, i want to connect
.
I want to try to understand andbe curious instead of Judge, be
judgmental and hate right back,and so that's sort of the stuff
that I've been learning thepast several years, learning how
to engage in healthier ways.
(23:26):
And one thing I'm trying tolearn more right myself right
now, for myself too is is To tryto fight the fight without
getting too angry, right, youknow, like to stay calm and keep
on with being productive and tonot sit and wallow and get and
And to not sit and despair fortoo long.
(23:47):
But, yeah, but if I feel likewhat I've learned the most is is
language, how importantlanguages in in connecting and
then also wanting to be surethat, and trying to talk to, to
people where, wherever they areat you know, meet them where
they are at.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
That's a really hard lesson, i think, no matter what
area of like, of activism you'reinvolved in too, especially
when you're talking aboutsomething that is inherently
perceived as being political.
Right of like, how, how to meetfolks and from a perspective of
where they don't think thatyou're trying to get something
over on them Or that you don'tthink that, based on their
opinion, that they're not smartor that they're a bad person, i
(24:23):
think.
But to come in and say like,but like you, nevertheless, like
this is true, these things aretrue, these things are not true.
And then how to go from there?
Like it's a hard.
It's a hard like tap dance, thefirst couple times you do it,
to like figure out where it is,especially if you're like a
people pleaser by nature.
Like it's a hard, it's a hard.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
You know road to go down, and that's another
difficult thing to do too, orrealization to come to as well,
is that we are not intellectualbeings.
Truth does not matter, and alot of people's arguments with
this or what they consider to befacts, are not the same set of
facts you're working with, andwhen you're looking at different
(25:04):
numbers of things, it's like Isay something I would say
frequently.
Right is that guns are thenumber one killer of children,
and it's well documented thatthat is the case.
But the amount of people thatwere coming at me about how
that's not true.
Those numbers are inflated.
They're taking into accountthings they shouldn't be with
those numbers, fentanyl isreally the biggest killer of
children right now.
(25:24):
It was just like.
So it's hard to it's hard tohave a discussion about facts.
And the other thing we got torealize that we are emotional
beings and that we are making alot of we are.
I learned this from Brené Brown.
She's so smart, but she talkedto it in an Atlas of the Heart.
She talks about how we are notall intellectual beings, we are
emotional beings.
With two people Can you say I'ma Dodgers fan and there's a I
(25:48):
don't know some other supportteam They're playing.
I don't know sports very wellAnd we could be looking at the
same playback And I will saythat it was the opponents who
did the foul, or whatever.
And they will say, no, it wasmy team, the Dodgers, who did,
even though we're looking at thesame video.
And that is because we areemotional beings and our
emotional ties and our loyaltyto our own group is more
(26:11):
important to us than the truth.
So that's another interestingand important thing to realize
when you're having these kindsof conversations too.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
I think, too, one of the things that's good, i think,
or at least that I really enjoy, about your Mother's Day
campaign is that I also think itacknowledges that, like when
you're meeting people where theyare, like everyone has a
different ability in terms oflike time or capacity, And so
doing something like I want youto make a phone call, i want you
to send an email, like thatdoesn't cost any money, it
doesn't take a long amount oftime And it gives you sort of, i
(26:44):
think, different options tofeel engaged.
Because I know that a few of myfriends who are moms like sent
me little screenshots of lettersthey were sending to be like Oh
, they were like, oh, there'ssomething you're doing.
And I was like, actually,there's a whole bunch of
different folks out there thatdo this sort of work.
That's really great.
This is just kind of an arm ofit.
And then I got to brag that Iwas like I'm talking to one of
the people involved in it.
(27:05):
You should listen, yeah, but youcan do that in between, you
know, while you're on the Metrogoing to work.
You can do that while you'rewaiting to pick up a kid, or
like while you're waiting forthe baby to fall asleep.
It doesn't.
Whereas I love when people comeout for marches, but, like,
that can take time, that cantake money.
You need childcare, you needthe ability to go.
This is a very private andquick thing, and so giving
(27:30):
people options to be engaged atdifferent levels is, i think,
really huge too.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Yeah, that was my favorite part about this
campaign that we were not askingfor any money Because there are
so many different fantasticorganizations like Brady who are
doing this good work, but thatwe really wanted to make sure
that everyone could get involvedwith this and feel like they
are accomplishing something.
And it was really remarkablehow many people wrote in saying
you know, i didn't even knowthat this was something I could
(27:55):
do to try to effect change oryou know, something I always
wanted to do, but I was kind ofnervous about making this call.
But because you provided ascript, you made it really easy
and it wasn't scary at all, andnow I feel more comfortable
calling about other things thatI care about, because the whole
point is of it, this is just thebeginning, right, like.
This was a little taste of whatI want to, what we're hoping to
accomplish, which is to getmany more people much more
(28:18):
active in democracy.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
It reminded me a lot of.
I don't know if you've read VoteGun, which is a new book that
just came out but talks abouthow, like, the gun lobby got so
politically powerful And likekind of took over different
aspects of our democracy.
But one of the things that theymentioned there is even when
the NRA is was pushing for, like, particular bills or different
legislation that is not popularamongst the majority of
(28:40):
Americans.
They still overwhelmed senatorsand congressmen with the number
of letters and phone calls thatwould come in.
So, even though, on the ground,87% of Americans would be
supporting background checkbills, it didn't look like that,
because those Americans whowere supporting those bills
weren't calling in to say, hey,i support.
It's much more common forpeople to write it and say I
don't support something, yes,right.
(29:01):
And so You have electives thenwho get overwhelmed and think,
well, this thing is more popular.
I'm gonna take flak if I don'tvote for this, but this is kind
of the the opposite of that samelike.
Let's get this ground to allpeople who actually all agree,
like Share their opinions.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Yeah, so that's that's, and it's an exciting
time, i think to be, to begetting involved.
I mean it it's unfortunate thatwe're having to get pushed so
far in the direction We don'twant to go into, to activate
this in us, in us.
But better late than never.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Well, and on that note of togetherness, if people
want to find you and find yourwork Whether it's like with vote
, mama, or or other things thatyou're working on where can
folks find you?
Speaker 2 (29:40):
I am Caitlyn skybound on Instagram and you can check
out my podcast I need anywhereyou can listen to it.
We also have a website.
How can I help pod comm withlinks to where you can listen to
it on Apple and Spotify, andAnd?
and.
Thank you all for thisconversation and for listening.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Thank you for working so hard.
Truly yeah, the more people wehave in, the better.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Yes, we need it, all We need all hands on deck
everybody big party.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Yes, hey want to share with the podcast.
listeners can now get in touchwith us here at red, blue and
Brady via phone or text message.
Simply call or text us at 480744 3452 with your thoughts.
Questions concerns ideas, catpictures, whatever thanks for
(30:28):
listening.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
As always, brady's life-saving work in Congress,
the courts and communitiesacross the country is made
possible.
Thanks to you.
For more information on Bradyor how to get involved in the
fight against gun violence,please like and subscribe to the
podcast.
Get in touch with us at BradyUnited org or on social at Brady
buzz.
Be brave and remember.
Take action, not sides You.
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