Unintentional shooting incidents—like the one that changed the trajectory of the characters’ lives in It Ends With Us—are preventable if gun owners practice safe firearm storage.
During its opening weekend in early August, It Ends With Us surpassed $80 million globally. Based on the book by Colleen Hoover, the film stars Blake Lively as flower shop owner Lily Bloom. Lily meets and marries charming neurosurgeon Dr. Ryle Kincaid, played by director Justin Baldoni. The film follows their relationship from its passionate beginning to Ryle’s devastating physical abuse of Lily.
In one of the first scenes, the couple has a chance encounter on the roof of Ryle’s apartment building at a moment when both characters are struggling with significant emotional trauma.
For Lily, this comes in the form of childhood flashbacks of her father abusing her mother that blindsided her at his funeral. For Ryle, it’s the story of a 6-year-old boy who unintentionally shot and killed his older brother; Ryle says the boy’s life is destroyed. Lily comforts Ryle and shows empathy for the 6-year-old who must live with what he did.
It isn’t until two-thirds of the way through the film that the audience learns that the 6-year-old boy is actually Ryle, who shot and killed his brother Emerson with his father’s loaded gun that was left unsecured. It’s a story Lily hears from Ryle’s younger sister Allysa, her best friend (played by Jenny Slate), after Lily confides in her about the abuse.
When Allysa describes the shooting to Lily, she says the boys were playing and Ryle thought the gun was a toy. She goes on to say that the incident has left him unable to open himself up to anyone. It’s clear that his guilt and grief have manifested into the uncontrollable rage that fuels his abuse on Lily.
Some viewers might think that the Kincaid family’s tragedy is a terrible-but-rare event. In reality, it is too painfully common.
While the most prevalent theme of the film is domestic violence, it’s critical to recognize that a root cause of domestic violence is trauma. Ryle and Allysa’s father’s decision not to lock up his gun is the cataclysmic failure that results in fracturing his family so violently it’s felt in aftershocks by his newborn granddaughter, when Lily divorces Ryle.
The what-if’s are gut-wrenching.
It’s natural to hate Ryle for the monster he unleashes on Lily, but it’s also important to remember that the 6-year-old boy who had to cope with killing his brother and best friend is also a victim.
A recent Harvard study showed that those who lost a child or sibling to a firearm injury experience more than twice as many psychiatric disorders than before their loss. Youth firearm deaths take a massive toll physically, emotionally and financially on families. The effects of gun violence on survivors’ mental health can include anxiety, depression and PTSD as well as ongoing hyper-vigilance and fear, according to a 2021 congressional study.
Some viewers might think that the Kincaid family’s tragedy is a terrible-but-rare event. In reality, it is too painfully common.
According to Brady, 4.6 million children live in a home with an unsecured and loaded weapon. Everyday “eight children and teens are unintentionally shot in instances of family fire—a shooting involving an improperly stored or misused gun found in the home resulting in injury or death.”
A White House stat shared by Vice President Harris on X said 75 percent of school shootings are committed with guns from the home. Of unintentional shootings of children, 76 percent were committed with unsecured weapons from the home, and 80 percent of firearm suicides by children involved a gun belonging to a family member.
Unintentional shooting incidents like the one that changed the trajectory of Ryle’s and Lily’s lives are preventable if gun owners practice safe firearm storage.
It Ends With Us gets its name from Lily’s decision to leave Ryle to break the cycle of abuse for their daughter who they name Emerson. The title can also apply to unintentional shootings. If we spread safe firearm storage awareness and convince gun owners to lock up their guns, the cycle of gun violence can end with us.
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