Don't Gamble with your Family's Safety

North Carolina is facing an urgent public safety crisis. Across the state, firearms have become the leading cause of injury-related death among children and teens. There has also been a rise in gun thefts, particularly from parked cars, as well as juvenile firearm offenses, which jumped from 1,000 to 4,000 annually in just a four-year stretch. In 2025, Reingold was looking for ways to reach audiences who still hadn’t taken action to secure their firearms over the course of our statewide campaign with the North Carolina Department of Public Safety. We wanted to shift the tone and show exactly what you’re risking when you don’t lock your gun. Our creative idea drops audiences into an everyday scene, playing out over 30 seconds. As neighbors gather, a game of hide-and-seek unfolds — and a child finds and picks up a firearm in a bedside table. The three lines of narration come at the very end: “If you leave your gun unlocked, this is what you’re gambling with. In homes with a gun, 1 in 3 children have handled it without their parents’ knowledge. Lock your gun, like their lives depend on it.” To make this scene feel as real as possible, our video team shot the whole spot in one take — allowing audiences to follow the action from start to finish without interruptions. This shows how easily a parent could find themselves in a similar situation. To nail the action on shoot day, we held a rehearsal beforehand to iron out final details and ensure both timing and visual authenticity. We cast talent with firearms experience and hired an expert armorer to ensure safety on set. The campaign now has a powerful new asset that reframes gun storage as an immediate, personal responsibility — not a theoretical risk. Early stakeholder feedback praised the spot’s realism, emotional pull, and ability to cut through message fatigue. Now rolling out statewide, the video serves as a cornerstone of NC S.A.F.E.’s efforts across paid media and community outreach, providing a tool to influence behavior and help prevent tragedy.