3.5 Ideas from Director Terry C Carney, Sr.’s Documentary — “Put the Guns Down: A World Epidemic”
4 min readJul 6, 2024
“To Win Big, You Gotta Start Small.” - Terry C. Carney, Sr.
Terry C. Carney, Sr. is the founder of Platinum City Golden West Entertainment.
Terry discusses his latest project, “Put the Guns Down: A World Epidemic,” which he directed and produced in collaboration with Hip Hop legend Ice-T. The documentary is a call to action, that ignites conversation on mental health and gun violence.
Terry and I discuss his amazing story from the tough streets of South Central Los Angeles to the global stage of film and music, the gun epidemic facing America today, and how we can fix it.
3.5 Ideas from Terry C. Carney, Sr.:
1) What’s the Real Cost Of Gun Violence?:
- “The main thing is taking somebody’s life. A lot of these young kids don’t realize once you pull that trigger, your life changes. Once that trigger is pulled, it changes on both ends of the pistol. It changes that person you just shot. He’s either going to die or he’s going to live. But if he dies, your life just changed forever because now you arrested and in a penitentiary.”
- “You can’t carry that gun with you inside that penitentiary and you’re going to find out that you’re going to be dealing with a whole lot of other type of scenarios of gorillas that you’re not accustomed to. And you’re gonna have to deal with them for the rest of your life.”
- “There is no race, no nationality, no nothing on gun violence and mental health. You or your kid stops at that gas station. All it takes is a split second, and your life can change at that gas pump. That’s how serious it is out here.”
2) How Much of Gun Violence is Caused by the Breakdown in the American Family?:
- “That’s the bridge right there. It’s major. It’s just so major, even if you’re dealing with your kid on the daily, right? Me and my wife we go to restaurants, we’ll sit there and we’ll look around and we’re like to see how the families interact with each other. Do you know almost every table in that restaurant the kids is on their cell phones and there is no conversation. You don’t even know your own kids and you there with them on the daily. So that’s how sad it is. We got to go back to the old school when it’s time for dinner time with your kids, you got to say, okay. All cell phones, all instruments have to go to the sideline.”
- “We need to sit down and I need to find out what’s going on in little Johnny’s mind. You see what I’m saying? Because little Johnny, little Sarah are dealing with issues at school that you have no idea at home. You don’t ask them that question anymore. It’s sad.”
- “People say, “Oh, I’m taking care of my family. I’m paying the bills. You know that it’s more to being a dad or mom than just paying bills. That’s why we have this mental health problem out here.”
3) You Say “To Win Big , You Got to Start Small.” What do You Mean?:
- “You got to start small. Stop letting your kids get on these video games. Stop letting them stay in their room, playing these video games, monitor them and find out what’s going, what they’re doing on their off time for real.”
- “Now this is a hard one right here…You actually got to sit down and you got to talk to your kids.”
- “This documentary, it’s about helping with mental health. It’s about paying attention to your kids.”
3.5) What Do You Want People to Take Away from This Documentary?:
- “I’ve watched this movie a hundred times already, and you’re going to leave with a different concept every single time, you’re going to get emotional, you’re going to be like, wow, this has blown me away because I got some serious issues and people in this film that survive things.”
- “They’re going to show you some of the injuries of what took place. Everybody in this theater, every time I show it, they left in tears.”
- “The movie speaks for itself. It’s self explanatory. I don’t want to tell you what to look for. I want you to watch it and you tell me what you learned from it.”
Connect with Director Terry C. Carney, Sr.:
- Website: Terry C. Carney, Sr.
- Trailer: Put the Guns Down: A World Epidemic
- Rapper & Actor Ice T Promoting the Documentary
- Terry’s Book: Last Man Standing
