Archive · 6 Nov 2025
HBO Documentary 'Thoughts & Prayers' Examines Shooter Preparedness Industry
Imagine schools are practicing for a fire drill, but instead of a fire, they are practicing for a shooter.
This documentary looks at all the different things schools and families are buying and doing to feel safer, like special backpacks and training sessions.
It’s like a big business now, worth billions of dollars.
The people making these things say they want to help keep kids safe.
But the filmmakers wonder if all this practicing and buying makes us truly safer or if it just makes us feel like we're always in danger.
They think it's strange that we have to prepare this much for school shootings, especially when adults in charge aren't fixing the problem.
It makes you ask if this is a healthy way for a country to live.
HBO's documentary 'Thoughts & Prayers' explores the multi-billion dollar 'shooter preparedness industry' in the U.S.
The film highlights safety rituals, bullet-proof gear, and tactical training in schools as a response to frequent mass shootings.
Directors Zackary Canepari and Jessica Dimmock began the project as new parents wanting to understand lockdown drills.
The documentary questions the effectiveness and societal implications of preparedness in lieu of prevention and gun reform.
It features students, staff, and experts from school districts in Utah, Oregon, and New York.
- Who
- Directors Zackary Canepari and Jessica Dimmock, HBO Documentary Films
- What
- A documentary examining the multi-billion dollar 'shooter preparedness industry' and its impact on students and educators in the U.S.
- When
- Premiering November 18
- Where
- United States schools and communities
- Why
- To explore the rise of safety rituals, tactical training, and survival gadgets in schools due to frequent mass shootings, questioning the consequences of preparedness in the absence of prevention efforts and gun reform.
Need for Shooter Preparedness
Critique of Shooter Preparedness Industry
Focus of the Industry
Need for Shooter Preparedness
Individuals creating products and programs are genuinely trying to help and provide safety.
Critique of Shooter Preparedness Industry
The industry focuses on practice and preparation rather than prevention, raising questions about its effectiveness and the message it sends.
Societal Impact
Need for Shooter Preparedness
Preparation is a necessary response to the reality of school shootings.
Critique of Shooter Preparedness Industry
The intense preparations, including tactical training and bullet-proof gear, are absurd and unsettling, and question what a healthy society looks like.
Political Context
Need for Shooter Preparedness
Implicitly, politicians' inaction on gun laws necessitates civilian preparedness.
Critique of Shooter Preparedness Industry
Civilians are disgusted with politicians who do nothing to change the country's gun laws, leading to a reliance on preparedness industries.
- Documentary Title
- Thoughts & Prayers
- Directors
- Zackary Canepari and Jessica Dimmock
- Premiere Date
- November 18
- Network
- HBO
- Streaming Platform
- HBO Max
- Industry Size
- $3 billion
- Featured Locations
- Utah, Oregon, and New York school districts