Dec 19, 2012
(Washington, DC) – As part of a long planned public awareness campaign, The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence today released the first in a series of public service announcements featuring families of victims of gun violence and celebrity spokespeople. They are all giving voice to the sentiment that, as a nation, we can do better than this.
The PSAs were directed by Griffin Dunne, Academy Award nominee for Best Live Action Short Film and produced by filmmaker and activist Maria Cuomo Cole. “It was an honor and privilege to direct these moving videos. Hearing first hand from victims and their families is tremendously powerful. We must do something and we must do it now, and these are the voices that must be heard," said Dunne.
“I am so proud to be apart on this powerful project and to help give a voice to the courageous families, celebrities and activists, “ said Cuomo Cole.
Homeland’s Mandy Patinkin will be featured in the next series of the Brady Campaign PSAs, along with other powerful stories from families affected by gun violence. "I am proud to be part of this vitally important effort. More than 10,000 Americans are murdered with guns every year. This is a fundamental issue of homeland security and safety for all of us," said Patinkin.
The PSAs tell the compelling stories of victims of gun violence, including Colin Goddard the Assistant Director of Federal Legislation at the Brady Campaign who is a survivor of the Virginia Tech massacre.
“We are better than this. We are better than a nation with mass shootings in movie theaters and schools and on our streets,” said Goddard. “Now it’s time our elected officials show us they know it too because we want our streets to be safe, we want our classrooms to be safe, we want a safer nation for all of us, we deserve better than this, we are better than this.”
The PSAs also feature Lonnie and Sandy Phillips, who lost their daughter Jessica Redfield Ghawi at the Century Movie Theater in Aurora, CO. “We have to be responsible about how we register our guns, how we sell our guns, how we sell the ammunition, what type of guns we allow people to handle and for what purpose,” said Sandy Phillips.
The public service announcements are available at: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXXyGBW2_MgzDI3uzLvS5G0fUSmXjSi6X
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The mission of the Brady organization is to create a safer America for all of us that will lead to the dramatic reduction in gun deaths and injuries that we all seek.
Dan Gross is the President of the Brady Campaign and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. A photo and more information about Dan Gross is available here.
For more insight on gun violence prevention, follow Brady’s Blog, Facebook Page and Twitter Account.
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