Spencer Pratt was told by police and security to get a gun after getting many death threats, & he became a Republican because Republicans were the only ones who supported Pratt and his wife getting a concealed handgun permit

Spencer Pratt, who is running to be the mayor of Los Angeles, said he bought a gun during the height of his reality TV fame on The Hills, when he was receiving numerous death threats. A transcript of the interview is shown below.

In a May 2026 CNN interview, he explained: “When I was a hated reality star, I got so many death threats. I had so much security and police. And what did they tell me to do? Get a gun..” The reports do not give an exact year that Spencer Pratt bought a gun because of death threats, but The Hills was at its peak between roughly 2007 and 2010, so that appears to be the period he was referring to. Pratt’s discussion makes it appear as if he was unable to get a concealed handgun permit. And concealed handgun permits were only issued to very few people in Los Angeles at that time, and there is no evidence that Prat and his wife were given a permit. A 2017 state auditor report showed over the years from 2014 to 2017 only a total of 66 new permits were issued, just an average of 22 per year. There were just a total of 197 active permits as of August 2017. Even more amazing, the auditor’s report found that, as of mid-August 2017, people outside the law enforcement community held only 5 percent of Los Angeles’s active CCW licenses.

CNN Interviewer: Why are you a Republican?

Spencer Pratt: Well, you want to break some news here.

CNN: Sure.

Pratt: It’s in my . . . I’ve never told this before. This is the only time I have ever said this, so. this is breaking news. Everyone is going to freak out. When I was a hated reality star, I got so many death threats. I had so much security and police. And what did they tell me to do? Get a gun. I know people don’t like guns, but L.A. was dangerous if you are hated. So I got a gun. My wife got a gun, and then we needed CCWs [concealed weapon permits]. The only people that supported a CCW was the Republican. That is what I aligned with. My safety, my personal safety, my family’s safety. I know people don’t like guns, but when people are threatening your life and your own security is telling you need to have home protection. Trained, too. It’s not like, just, I went to the — you know, go through the proper steps. That was my, that’s it.

CNN: And you felt like that party was more Pro–Second Amendment.

Pratt: And that was it. And I know that is a very hot botton thing.