Gun violence. Gun reform. Guns take lives. Guns save lives. The right to bear arms. In The United States of America, there are only two sides to the gun debate and the conversations are uncomfortable. Louder Than Guns is an interesting new documentary that examines the polarizing discussions regarding gun control.
Inspired by a song of the same name (written by Old Crow Medicine Show’s lead singer, Ketch Secor), director Doug Pray’s film follows Secor and his bandmates on a concert tour that becomes something more intimate. Across communities, both rural and urban, Louder Than Guns follows Secor, the band, and journalist David Greene (of the Public Radio program Left, Right, & Center) on a quest for civil discourse on the country’s most volatile issue.
Nashville-born Ketch Secor lost someone close to him due at the hands of a gun. The idea for the film was sparked by his inability to come to terms with gun culture and by the 2023 Covenant School mass shooting in Nashville, TN where six innocent souls (three 9-year-old students and three staff members) were murdered by an active shooter. In an article with the New York Times, Secor stated how he hoped to bring people together through informed and respectful gun control conversations.
For a popular band who sing Country music, taking on such a subject was certainly risky. The film wants to create a space of understanding through face-to-face conversations between people on both sides of the issue. Louder Than Guns isn’t a message film, but a vulnerable and open-minded documentary that doesn’t come at its subject with a finger-pointing agenda.
Children are being murdered in our schools and country’s suicide rates are at an all time high. Gun violence is the cause of it all. Director Doug Pray, Ketch Secor, and David Greene just want to find an understanding.
As Secor and Greene travel to Montana, Chicago, and Nashville, they meet with strangers willing to share their views regarding the gun debate. One wonders if these sessions could ever truly incite change. These moments find people affected by gun violence openly discussing their sadness and rage over losing loved ones, while others declare themselves proud gun owners who act responsibly. These scenes have power, even though a stalemate is the ultimate outcome.
This is representative of the larger problem. One side (the pro-gun control people) wants stricter regulations, NOT the destruction of all guns and the repealing of the Second Amendment. Most of the other side (the pro-gun people) do not see it that way. When they hear the term “gun control”, they twist it into, “We are coming for your guns!” The film shows how coming to the debate with blinders on will assure that nothing is ever resolved, especially when our politicians mangle the message and manipulate the justice system.
The filmmakers claim to come at the gun issue with a non-political stance, but it is impossible to not bring in the political arguments. Hearing from politicians on both sides of the gun control aisle would have given a stronger spark to the film’s intentions.
The film’s only real flaw is the constant intercutting of concert performances. We understand The Old Crow Medicine Show is a popular group and we expect to see a slice of their musical life. The film opens with a performance and that should have sufficed. There are times when the doc cuts from an emotional sequence to a rousing performance from the band. While this editorial choice doesn’t hurt the film’s overall impact, at times, the constant return to the stage felt a bit insincere.
The insertion of multiple scenes of Secor solo-singing the titular song would have played stronger if it had been done only once.
These issues regarding the filmmaking choices do not dampen the message, nor should they deter anyone from seeing this important, honest, and heartbreakingly timely documentary.
Louder Than Guns is a film that hopes to cut a positive forward path regarding the national gun conversation. If there is an agenda, it is one of togetherness and understanding. Doug Pray, Ketch Secor, and David Greene aren’t forcing their personal views on the subject. What they seek is conversation and are trying to understand a country where gun culture is favored over common sense laws and human lives.
The filmmakers are here to listen; giving voice to both sides without any overt judgement. While no actual headway is made and the film can (occasionally) be a bit performative, the willingness to listen is the film’s most important takeaway.
Louder Than Guns
Directed by Doug Pray
NR, 87 Minutes, Abramorama