Actor Kurt Russell found himself being dragged into the gun debate during an interview with Jeffrey Wells of Hollywood Elsewhere last week.
Wells, an apparent supporter of tougher gun laws, attempted to back Russell into a corner on the issue, suggesting that gun control was the only answer to the various threats we face today.
Russell scoffed at that idea, noting that you can’t “control the behavior of people that are dead set on taking your way of life away from you.” Instead, Russell alluded to the reality that one needs to be prepared to stand one’s ground and defend one’s way of life by any means necessary.
He also made a great hockey analogy, which was tantamount to saying that we shouldn’t be living in fear of evildoers or criminals, they should be the one’s living in fear of us. In short, we need to flip the script. We need to instill fear, not invite it.
It seems the most logical way to flip the script is to consistently remind the thugs out there that we are armed and ready to confront them. If they attempt to take what’s ours, we will meet them with force and say, as Mr. Russell did, “‘No, dude, that’s not gonna happen. That’s just not gonna happen.'”
Below is the exchange:
Wells: I think there’s a feeling about shootings and violence right now…I think it’s different in 2015 than it was in the mid ’90s. But Quentin is still playing the same game more or less.
Russell: Well, Quentin does what he does. He’s painting a picture, writing, telling a story…like a filmmaker. But to mix and match reality with fantasy is something I don’t understand but that’s just me. I think we should understand the difference. To mix today’s politics with, in this case, a tale about, uh, a fictional tale about the Civil War…
Wells: I’m not talking about politics. I’m talking about a ground-level, water-table…a feeling in people’s bones. People are genuinely…between Paris and San Bernardino the idea of sudden violence becoming a normal, day-to-day aspect coming from the gun culture and everything else…it’s a different vibe, you know?
Russell: I don’t understand concepts of conversation [about] the gun culture. We’ve lived with guns since, what, the 7th Century or something? I don’t know.
Wells: Well, I think we all know…guns are a trope. Not a trope but a totem, a metaphor that disenfranchised white guys need…it makes them feel good about themselves.
Russell: You can say what you want. I don’t agree with that. It’s not my thing.
Wells: Well, it’s statistically irrefutable.
Russell: If you think gun control is going to change the terrorists’ point of view, I think you’re, like, out of your mind. I think anybody [who says that] is. I think it’s absolutely insane. The problem, the problem that we’re having right now to turn it around…you may think you’ve got me worried about you’re gonna do? Dude, you’re about to find out what I’m gonna do, and that’s gonna worry you a lot more. And that‘s what we need. That will change the concept of gun culture, as you call it, to something [like] reality. Which is, if I’m a hockey team and I’ve got some guy bearing down on me as a goal tender, I’m not concerned about what he’s gonna do — I’m gonna make him concerned about what I’m gonna do…
Wells: I get that.
Russell: To stop him. That‘s when things change. So what has that got to do with movies? Nothing! Movies are movies. They’re like a painting, like a song, like a book…he’s doing his Quentin Tarantino world, which I think belongs on film. I don’t think it has anything to do with anything outside of film. The music, the manipulation of the screenplay. So I can’t connect the dots. It really is hard for me to connect the dots.
Wells: Obama’s point was that the guys on the no-fly list, [there] for good reason because of terrorist connections or suspicions…they can get hold of a gun pretty easily.
Russell: They can also make a bomb pretty easily. So what? They can also get knives and stab you. Whaddaya gonna do about that? They can also get cars and run you over. Whaddaya gonna do about that?
Wells: They didn’t kill the people in San Bernardino with cars.
Russell: But they’ve killed others that way, haven’t they? Yeah, yeah. Whaddaya gonna do? Outlaw everything? That isn’t the answer.
Wells: Just put some controls…
Russell: Put some controls? What, so the people, so the people who want to defend themselves can’t?
Wells: No, not so you can’t, just so the idiots can’t get hold of them [so easily], that’s all.
Russell: You really believe they’re not going to? Are you serious about that? What good will that…? Oh my God. You and I just disagree.
Wells: Okay.
Russell: You and I just disagree. I understand that you think you can control the behavior of people that are dead set on taking your way of life away from you. You think you can control that? And there’s only one thing you can do with that. And that’s [to say] ‘No, dude, that’s not gonna happen. That’s just not gonna happen.’
Kurt Russell for president!
Seriously, I’d vote for him.
It would be nice just once to vote FOR someone rather than always voting against someone.
Has anyone noticed that the preponderance of these “terrorist attacks” (to include school shootings) seem to occur in “gun free zones”, and those which are perpetrated outside those “safety zones” are often terminated by armed citizens, and the body count is much lower.
Oh and by the way…. white people aren’t the only people with guns! maybe you should do some actual research before you open your mouth! also just so you know in this country not too long ago there was a school bombing that killed over 40 people! they didn’t use a gun! if they did the number of people killed probably would have been less! but like i said… you don’t do actual research! just propaganda!
great job Kurt! thank you for using common sense! I would love to hang out with you! i cant say that about most people in your industry!
Kurt Russel has my admiration. I could hear his hackles raising (as mine did) but, unlike my probable response, he let the reporter walk out alive.
Dear reporter … I am NOT a disenfranchised White man … I am the NRA and I vote.
See … not disenfranchised at all. Sorry your dick-soda was flat.
Way to go Kurt! I’ve liked Kurt since his early Disney Years! Here’s an idea for our future teachers. Why don’t we require all potential teachers take an 8 hour gun safety/proficiency class. (I know several people, especially females, that have never used a firearm, after completing a gun safety class, going out and purchasing a firearm for personal protection!) Then let any who want to, carry in the classroom. Maybe even require principles to carry to protect our kids!
Sandyhook was a terrible thing and my heart still grieves for those parents of the kids. But, if the principal (Dawn Hochsprung) had been taught to carry responsibly, instead of trying to just rush the lunatic shooter, she could have been throwing lead. Many lives may have been saved, probably even hers! Don’t get me wrong, I applaud her for trying to rush the guy and trying to stop him, but____
One other thought, why isn’t anyone talking about these violent video games that all these whackos seem to be playing before they commit these atrocities! Shouldn’t we be talking about banning this mind altering crap!? Kids playing these so-called games and getting desensitized to violence and killing other people, including cops! They don’t seem to realize in real life, once you’re dead, you’re dead! You just don’t reboot the game and start your life over!
There are many who have had sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers killed by mass shooters. These folk are grieving deeply and understandably so, and they are some of the first to hop onto the “Gun Control Bandwagon.” I have often pondered whether or not they, the surviving relatives and friends, had given any thought as to whether or not the outcome would have been different had there been CCW holders at these locations who chose to defend those who were helpless at the time of the shootings? Instead of seeking a ban on firearms, or control, they should be promoting the expansion of CCW permits and firearms training for all who meet the requirements for carry. Just my two cents worth. Right on, Kurt! Finally, someone who is speaking with common sense!
There are, in fact, many who would take that tack. Responsible relatives who understand that when seconds count, the police are just minutes away. Alas, most of them are related to guys who actually engaged the threats when they presented themselves, and ended the scenario before it began. Those types don’t fit the narrative, so they don’t make the news….
I certainly agree with Kurt Russell. I have been watching and enjoying movies that he has been in since he started with Disney. An excellent actor! Would love to see someone like this be acknowledged with the awards he deserves. I hope he will be! A man able to tell it like it is.
Gun control was always for the hoi polloi – that’s you and me, folks. The Upper Crust have always been afraid of the Great Unwashed…with good reason, as in you study the history of banking in this country you find out how each and every one of us has been raped and robbed by the Fed Reserve System.
The National Firearms Act of 1934, banning automatic weapons, was a direct result of the 1933 false-flag Business Plot for a coup in America. Which was itself fomented by the Great Depression, caused by the ancestors of todays banksters. Every gun-control measure ever since has had that as the underlying concern of our unelected Elite.
This is why the bankster-run Gub’mint wants to take your only means of defense against them when they pull the last rug out from under the rest of us. They’re planning on something a lot bigger than the Great Depression happening very soon, and they know any survivors will be looking for bankster heads to adorn fences, hang from overpasses and sit atop flagpoles.
The next film that Kurt does, that doesn’t have Tarantino associated with it, I WILL go see! Thanks, Kurt.
Forget the fact gun control doesn’t work. Look at IL. They have the toughest gun control laws in the nation, and also the most gun violence in the nation, and not by just a little, and it has been that way for decades. Portland Oregon staged a rally for Obama as he landed at the airport holding signs stating “Ban Hi-Capacity Ammo”. Really? This is the problem. These are the same morons who want to pass knee jerk reactionary laws on issues they have not the expertise or familiarity to even comment on, and this is how these idiotic laws come into being. On a witch hunt. A certain liberal state back east during the fervor of the Sandy Hook attempted to pass laws on Hi-cap mags. The compromise was not making them illegal, but that you can only put 8 round in them or else face felony prosecution. In essence, you are giving the criminal an over 2 to 1 ammo advantage when he tries to enter your home and kill/rape your family with the same Glock you keep in your nightstand safe to protect them with. I guess it is good cause I am sure the criminal who was going to murder your family for a few hundred bucks is now totally deterred from committing such a crime cause he wants to avoid the potential felony of having too many bullets in his magazine. Does this even make sense? This is the mentality and giving into compulsion. They don’t care about the laws they are passing, they just want to be “the guy” who did something. Even if it was asinine. Problem is they are generally too stupid and deluded enough to think that they made a difference, when they only compounded the problem. The AR 15 has been in existence for 50 years. They didn’t make a million mags, they made hundreds of millions of them. Do they think they are just going to disappear?
Case in point is Switzerland. Every house has an assault rifle in it that is taken home when they complete their tour in the military. This doesn’t seem to make sense… with all these guns, there should be more gun related violence! Reason there isn’t? Because everyone knows that ever house has the same rifle in the closet or under the bed that you have under yours. It is kind of like the arms race. Mutually assured destruction so to speak. I am thinking one person on the airplanes armed with a gun on 9/11 would have put a stop to box knife wielding thugs instantly. Just a thought.
“Wells: No, not so you can’t, just so the idiots can’t get hold of them [so easily], that’s all.”
Wells (and most left leaning sacks of s$&t) believes that anyone who wants to own a firearm is an idiot, that’s the crux of the matter. Deny the ability to defend so they can rule the roost with impunity. Power lies behind all of this, they want their sheep placid and defenseless. It lurks behind every action they take in Congress.
It may sound gross, tho true- if when the killers showed up that an aware person at that Christmas party(that was carrying)
blew her brains all over her husband then double tapped him in both shoulders crippling him for his future life-sentence in prison.
That would be the antithesis of a ISIS recruiting picture for wing-nuts that buy into such a horrror choice.
The 6-month old baby should be anonymously adopted far away where no one ever knows the parentage ~!
Its good to FINALLY hear some logic coming from a Hollywood actor. Harrison Ford, Tarantino, Fonda and all the other idiots lost a fan when they started this gun control crap and the “I’m leaning Left of center” political chit. I do not need some actor that makes his living in gory, “shoot em up” movies telling me how to defend my home and family. They do not live in the real world and I for one am NEVER going to watch another one of their HYPOCRIT movies. Save me a lot of money and hopefully takes a lot from their back accounts.
That’s a key- Russell does live in the real world. He lived and raised his family around the modest town of Grand Junction, CO until recently.
Mr. Russell, Thank you for telling it like it is and, “standing your ground”. I want to shake your hand !!!!!
Kurt- Thanks for being our huckleberry!
I SAY KURT RUSSELL, RUN FOR PRESIDENT, YOU WOULD BE ANOTHER RONALD REAGAN, AND YES I WOULD VOTE FOR YOU………..MILLIONS OF OTHER REAL AMERICANS WOULD VOTE FOR YOU!! LOVE YOUR INTERVIEW!!
“statistically irrefutable” !?! LMAO!!! What an oxymoron! (and a moron to say such a thing.)
It’s sad but instead of a bill for the education of every adult US citizen who will attend a firearms safety course in order to arm themselves to defend themselves when confronted with a terrorist with a weapon and defend their fellow citizens our leaders in their wisdom choose to present a bill that will make criminals out of law abiding citizens. I am sad.
Tell them Kurt, without the guns, how do we protect ourselves against those who have them, it’s easy for a terrorist to get a gun no matter what you do, they got here didn’t they, how hard is it to take apart a a rifle and walk it in.
Our family has lived in Littleton, CO (the site of the infamous Columbine tragedy) for nearly 20 years. In response to it, I am a regular blood donor. And, I carry a firearm every day including to worship services, the movies and the dentist. One never knows.
Carry your weapon always, practice frequently, pray you don’t have to use it but be ready if you do.
[last lines]
Jack Burton: Just remember what ol’ Jack Burton does when the earth quakes, and the poison arrows fall from the sky, and the pillars of Heaven shake. Yeah, Jack Burton just looks that big ol’ storm right square in the eye and he says, “Give me your best shot, pal. I can take it.”
— Or Soldier, where the command ship asks “who is this?” and “soldier” just growls into the mic. Or Tombstone, where, ambushed at the stream, Wyatt yells, “NO …OOO!” and charges, guns blazing. “You ever seen anything like that?” “Hell, I ain’t never HEARD of anything like that.”
“Well, I think we all know…guns are a trope. Not a trope but a totem, a metaphor that disenfranchised white guys need…it makes them feel good about themselves.”
*heavy sigh*
That is what emasculated males today say to reassure themselves about being so feeble in both mind and body.
Its ALL about CONTROL !!!!! Totally agree with Kurt !!!!!
Kurt’s views was said well.. Criminals need to worry about if this person or that person is carrying, will this be my ” LAST ” criminal act? I’ve been CCW for almost 8 yrs now, I do not want to have to take a persons life, but if a criminal wants to try and take mine, or my family, I will exercise my rights and do what I have to..
He really shut that pos up. The logic in his comments just made the lemming sound more idiotic. Good job, man!
He should have also said “gun control” gives criminals a monopoly of force; including those who work for government: I can think of two being indicted right now in NY who passed the SAFE Act.
Absolutely correct. After 34 years in LE and countless gun arrests I still believe that the greatest detriment to crime in a well armed and well trained society. Those IDIOTS/CRIMINALS who wrote and formulated the SAFE ACT actually banned every weapon carried by every PO in the State of NY requiring the third man in the room to amend the act immediatly so HIS security detail could go to work armed that day. Its what happens when those that dont understand ANYTHING about firearms and refuse to accept the Constitution make knee jerk decisions that affect others. No individual that I arrested in my 34 years would have been affected by any law. They were affected by the application and enforcement of current laws . The most dangerous places to be are gun free zones because the only guy in the room with a gun is THE BAD GUY>
Kurt Russell….my hero.
Bravo! Need more celebrities like, “The Dude,” speaking common sense to America, since celebrities seem the only ones a vast majority of pinheads will pay attention to..
Tom I believe you’re confusing Jeff Bridges (http://tinyurl.com/hycwnpn) with Kurt Russell. “Snake Plissken”, or my favorite character “Jack Burton”.
Got a laugh out of me. Don’t forget Captain Ron:)