The documentary “Louder Than Guns” was created in the aftermath of The Covenant School shooting to make space for important conversations on gun control, and what it looks like to move forward with compassion. On May 11, The Belcourt Theatre is holding a special screening of the film, with a 60-minute version airing that same evening on Nashville PBS. I spoke with two of the documentary’s creators, Ketch Secor from Old Crow Medicine Show and NPR Morning Edition host David Greene, to learn more.
Why was making this documentary important to y’all?
David: “I have built a career in journalism on the belief that listening — truly listening, with an open and curious mind — can bring change. That kind of listening sounds easy. And yet we rarely do it, especially in today’s society. Our documentary is meant to show, by example, that this rare experience — sitting down with people who share a passion, like music, or people who happen to be your neighbors — can be so meaningful. The experience may help drag you out of your echo chambers, open your mind to new ideas, and put you in a mindset where you can collaborate with fellow humans to solve problems — even some of the most polarizing and intractable ones of our day, like gun violence.”
Ketch: “Three years ago, a shooting at The Covenant School felt like it put all our community’s schools, teachers, and children in the crosshairs of the national gun violence epidemic. I wanted to do something.”
Does one conversation from the film in particular stand out to you now?
David: “There were so many powerful conversations. One that stands out to me was an exchange at a Nashville restaurant. Tennessee Rep. Shaundelle Brooks, whose son was killed in a 2018 shooting at a Waffle House outside Nashville, sat across the table from Bill Robeson, a gun owner who learned to shoot when he was five years old. Bill argued passionately that we should all feel safer because we have gun owners there to protect us. Shaundelle shared that after her son’s murder, ‘people would come up to me and say I wanna take their guns — I don’t wanna take your guns, I want to be safe.’ She added, ‘not all gun owners are irresponsible.’
“I was struck by the nuance and rawness of this exchange, and the entire conversation that night in Nashville. This just never happens in society today. And it must.
“Bill shared that evening that his friend’s older brother shot and killed his younger brother — then five years old — and that his friend’s family has been tortured ever since. ‘They weren’t locked,’ Bill said of the firearm used in the tragedy. ‘Mine are locked.’ It was a moment that drove home for me that gun owners like Bill know more about gun safety than anyone else in the conversation. How can people fighting to end gun violence not be willing to listen to people like Bill?
“As we talked about Shaundelle’s experience, and how some gun owners seem to look for any reason to accuse people of trying to take their guns away, Bill acknowledged, ‘that happens a lot.’ Bill brought things home that night with, to me, one of the most memorable moments from the film: ‘I appreciate everyone’s opinion,’ he said. ‘I’ve never been opposed to doing things that make sense. And I think a lot of gun owners are the same way. They just feel attacked. And both sides feel attacked. Everyone feels attacked. Why do we have to be like that? Can we not just be adults and have a conversation?’
“I hope we can.”
Ketch: “I once met a father of a teenage daughter in a prisoner’s support group who had recently finished serving a lengthy jail sentence, and now faced the challenge of being ineligible to own a firearm. He talked about how scared he felt that he couldn’t protect his child. Meanwhile, I felt scared for my child, thinking of there being a firearm in my house. We couldn’t have been looking at the same issue any differently; we both shared the desire to protect our kids. This man helped me see that even opposites can agree, and it makes me more hopeful that by defining those places of overlap, we can find a compromise for the protection of our nation's most vulnerable.”
What do you hope people leave with after watching this film?
David: “I hope people leave with a willingness to TRY this. Look for relationships or disagreements in your lives that you have avoided because you don’t see a way forward. Maybe it just feels too toxic or too impossible. I’m not saying radical listening will work every time, or even once. But what if it does? What if you judged another person unfairly, or wrongly assumed there’s no way forward with someone, and that robbed you of the chance to tackle something hard together? Wouldn’t you rather seek out things that might bring you together — like country music, or bowling, or love of a sports team — and explore where that might take you? What if a surprising connection develops and you’re able to listen to one another in ways you never expected? Isn’t trying it better than the alternative?”
Ketch: “I hope that our viewers will consider sitting down with somebody they think they’ll probably disagree with on the topic of gun violence, gun reform, the Second Amendment, etc., and just talk about it. Sometimes it feels like this problem is too colossal for us to solve, and yet it’s people sharing ideas and working together that will solve not only this seemingly insurmountable issue but many many more.”
