Actor Roger Moore died this week at the age of 89. He was no fan of firearms, evidently. (Photo: Associated Press)
Actor Roger Moore died this week at the age of 89. May he RIP.
Moore was best known for playing “James Bond,” the British superspy with a licensed to kill, a preference for clear cocktails, “Shaken, not stirred,” a libido that makes Wilt Chamberlain look like a celibate priest, and an affection for the iconic Walther PPK pistol.
While Moore seemed to embrace the role of 007, there was one aspect of the character that he despised.
“Of course I do not regret the Bond days,” he said, according to the BBC. “I regret that sadly heroes in general are depicted with guns in their hands, and to tell the truth I have always hated guns and what they represent.”
Moore doubled down on those comments throughout his life. According to IMDB, he once said, “Today I am completely opposed to small arms and what they can do to children. I made a few bad movies.”
“I played every role tongue-in-cheek because I don’t really believe in that sort of hero,” he added. “I was only a hero I had a script that said I was going to win. I don’t like guns.”
See Also: Liam Neeson on U.S. Gun Ownership: ‘[Expletive] Disgrace’
Like most Hollywood actors, Moore doesn’t seem to understand human nature. Sure, most of us are good people. But there are a few bad apples. And these bad apples are hellbent on harming others. Firearms are what keep those bad apples from ruining the entire bunch.
Seriously, firearms are a cornerstone of a free society. Without a right to keep and bear arms free people are at risk of becoming enslaved by government, exploited by criminals and victimized by killers.
During his life, Moore had the privilege to hate guns only because other men — real heroes — used firearms to protect our civilized world from those who sought to destroy it.
Does anyone remember when he also played on Maverick as one of the brothers? No one twisted his arm to play these rolls, and having an opinion not based on facts is nothing more than talking to hear yourself talk. Sean Connery never liked guns either, and neither were experienced gun handlers with any skills. Moore was probably still miffed that his ancestors got their butts kicked back across the pond by “firearms” that he hates. Stinging still Roger?
“During his life, Moore had the privilege to hate guns only because other men — real heroes — used firearms to protect our civilized world from those who sought to destroy it.”
That about sums up the STUPIDITY of all gun haters!
Glad I was born in the good ole USA and live in gun toting Texas!
And he was opposed to swimming pools, ponds, oceans, rivers, cars, etc. because what they can “do” to children. Is he anti-abortion, too? Doubt it.
Like I really care what an actor (WRONGLY) believed about firearms. What makes his opinion any more important then anyone else’s?
But I will say the fact this tool made a living shooting a gun on the big screen with those opinions only made him a giant hypocrite! A hypocrite that also didn’t seem to know (or care?) about the big goverenemt tyrants in world history, that stripped their own people of their guns so they could go about controlling their every move or kill them off by the hundreds of millions!
Two things to always keep in mind about actors:
1. They make a living pretending to be people they are not.
2. They are hypocrites who will claim to be anti-gun, but will perform in movies where they kill people left and right.
In other words, they have zero credibility.
Actually, Moore’s opinion of guns is his opinion. We all get to have one. At least he didn’t run out breathlessly to tell everyone how he felt, the way Sigourney Weaver did after “Aliens” was released – in several interviews, she went to great pains to say how horrible she thought guns were, right after cashing a multi-million dollar check for running around movie sets with a futuristic assault rifle/grenade launcher combo and shooting the crap out of alien monsters.
But I’m also surprised at the uncritical acceptance of gun control by most folks who live in Great Britain, given that after all those laws, the per capita rate of violent crimes in most categories in England and Wales is four times what it is here in the gun-happy United States of America.
Britons are not noticeably less intelligent than we Americans are, yet they didn’t take the hint when the IRA was bombing the runways at Heathrow airport with a multi-barrel MORTAR that just maybe the classic American bumper sticker is right – “When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns”.
Exactly my thoughts. He was entitled to his opinion but didn’t run out and make a political cause about it. I respect that.
i did not like him as bond for that reason
I am sorry to learn that Roger Moore died. I much preferred him in the role of The Saint (Simon Templar) than as the vampy version of James Bond. He had other roles that required him to hold and shoot a gun. They can’t all be bad movies, can they? However I think his role as Simon Templar involved less gun violence and more mental acuity and lots of flimflam. No matter, he made a living and several movies that involved guns.
All of that said, I can’t agree with his point of view. Look at Venezuela today and you’ll know why Chavez and Maduro took everyone’s guns away and doled them out to only a loyal few. Then get back to us. Look at Hitler’s Germany in the 1930’s and note who could and could not have guns. True small arms present a risk, but so do cars, planes, buses, trains, electric lines, canals, pools, escalators and just about anything around you. Everything is a risk. Everything is a risk to children. That’s why parents are supposed to watch out for them as best as possible.
he can afford to not like them i.e. bodyguards. we normal american’s, we are our only bodyguards so we MUST have means to protect ourselves. not that hard to understand.
Sounds like a priest who admits at the end of his life that he is an atheist
Anyone who knows anything at all about shooting knew a long time ago that Moore was not a ‘gun guy’. In nearly every movie, in which he fired a handgun and his face was clearly visible, he consistently closed his eyes before pulling the trigger. He usually looked extremely uncomfortable in those scenes no matter how the editors tried to make it look otherwise. And he was, in my opinion , the worst JB ever.
Most of these high dollar actors have body guards. I am sure that they are all armed with sugar,spices,and loving kisses.RIGHT! I bet if these actors only option for protection would be to carry around on their back a police officer or a hand gun they would pick the handgun. Most do not live in the real world. They spend their whole life being someone that has been created by a script writer of mostly fiction. We do not know who they really were and neither do they. If he felt this way about guns and still made millions from the use of guns in his career ,WHAT A HYPOCRITE !
Roger Moore was never a plausible Bond, anyway. It was a stretch imagining him doing more than giving up the goods after KGB showed him the hot pincers. The only decent actors in that role were Sean Connery and the current guy, Daniel Craig.
My favorite Bond was George Lazenby from “On her Majesty’s Secret Service” 🙂 His green Aston DBS was my fav. Bond Car, too.
Having been in the movie industry for 35+ years, I’ve worked as an armorer with a lot of actors that dislike firearms but are required to use them in the film. Guys, it’s OK for someone not to “like” guns. Most of the time with some training they can be cured of being “afraid” of the gun. It’s just a matter of becoming familiar with learning how to safely handle it and understanding it can’t jump out of their hands and operate on it’s own like so many movies have depicted.
Moore did not actively use his celebrity to speak out against them unlike many other actors here in the U.S. He was a class guy.
It’s the A hole “actors” that use their position to promote their anti-gun agenda we should be having issues with. Those “pat yourself on the back” award shows are a perfect example..
I agree. Nothing in this world is liked by everyone. No big deal. However, the absolute hypocrisy of the Hollywood actor anti gun activists types, who make their living selling murder and mahem, is pure and total BS. I don’t care how good the new action movie of the season may be. If it involves a liam neeson, mark wahlberg, matt damon, etc, I refuse to watch or support it. I also write to the companies who sponsor their movies and let them know I detest the violence they are openly supporting. Probably doesn’t mean much in the world of billion dollar business, but I feel better.
Most, if not all, anti-gun people never even held a gun much less fired one. The best way I’ve found to change their opinions is to invite them to the range for a fun day of shooting, along with the prerequisite range safety discussion. Next thing you know these same people are wanting information on purchasing that first beloved .22 plinker!
Just about all of these movie people seem to hate guns, hate our President, Some of them move to France or England but always come back to make their money. and spend it on foreign soil.
They don’t even know that America has a constitution and the 2nd. amendment.
Then, maybe it is because they shoot guns with about a million round Magazine that never needs to be reloaded. Guns like that would even scare “ME”
Yea, he hated guns but that didn’t stop him from making millions using one.
That’s because he had no morals and ethics and only cared about the money. An actor with morals and ethics would have turned the role down due to their dislike of guns.
I was at a local political event last week. A member of Parliament happened to be in attendance and was asked to say a few words. He was very eloquent and spoke about Manchester and the recent truck/knife attack at Parliament. One thing he said that stuck in my mind was, “We waited patiently for the constabulary. I trust the constabulary.” That sums up the attitude of the British people. They are cowed into inaction and just stand around as people are being murdered, patiently awaiting for the police to arrive and do something. There are no men, no heroes, no gallant civilians brave enough to take action and attempt to halt the bad guys, and of course no one is armed. I thought, that’s the difference between you and us in Georgia. If someone walked into this room and tried to commit a murderous act, they would be shot from several different directions. Several of us were legally carrying concealed, and quite prepared to do whatever was necessary should the need arise. And if we were in an area where we couldn’t carry, we still wouldn’t die like lambs at the slaughterhouse. If I’m going down, I’m going down fighting like a tiger, like so many of my vet brothers. Can you imagine having the attitude and standing around with your hands in your pockets, whistling and watching as someone is murdered, as what happened when the Muslim thugs cut off the young Brit soldier’s head on an England street not too long ago? No one grabbed a pipe or a bat or an object and clocked him. I watched the video and they all stood around and tut tutted as the puke slowly sawed that kid’s head off. Unbelievable, the cowardice involved, but it’s an attitude pounded into the Brits by their government, turning them into docile sheep, and the Democrats want to do it to our young here – and to a large degree, they have. That’s one of many reasons I despise them so much.
I’ve always hated liberalism and what it does to young minds. As for Roger, well, when you can afford a mansion and security guards, I can imagine him not seeing the need for guns,
What do you expect from a Brit? I fully blame the media for the negative connotations the word ‘gun’ elicits. I’m 60 years old and grew up with firearms, hunting and enjoying a long day at the range plinking. I never associated firearms with something evil but just a tool. It’s sad the damage libertards have done to our society over the last 30 or 40 years …
Yeah, I hate ’em too. That’s why I try to buy up as many as I can to “get them off the street”.
Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
I gotta remember this one.
Excellent
I never met a gun I didn’t like – unless it was on the shelf and I couldn’t afford it!
Brainwashed Brits!!!!!!! They lie to get us to pick their asses out of the trenches of WWI, then lie some more to get us in to WWII in Europe. They have yet to pay back their war debts from either war, going back further to 1812!!!!!! how much Moore do we need of this BS. I am talking about a bachelor\’s degree here. The Brit allowed themselves to be cut off at the knees and disarmed by a tyrannical government, we do not need to do the same.And the people that say \’turn your weapons in and let the Government take care of things and protect you (when it takes minutes to hours for police to show, personally I think not)\’ by the way, ask any Native American how that worked out for them!!!!!! I do not think you will get a civil answer.And finally, if these ACTORS are so committed to \’Hating\” guns they should shuns these role like the plague that have them in them. What\’s that, with like being on the big screen in these Macho roles with the BIG PENIS symbol of a gun as they put it?
One way or the other forked tongue.
Your are both an idiot and dead flat wrong. The Brits paid every nickel for WW1 and WW2 with the final payment being made in 2006. Not only that but Woodrow Wilson got the US in WW1 and the contribution of American forces did not have the impact on the end result of the war that many Americans have been led to believe. The Brits had been fighting for 3 years by the time the Yanks arrived on the battlefield, losing almost 1.7 MILLION men to the fighting which was over 2% of the entire population of the country. Compare that to the US who lost just over 117,000 men, less than .13% of the population, mostly by following the inept leadership of the other Allies and mounting human wave style attacks.
Secondly, unless the Brits had a hand in bombing Pearl Harbor, I think you’ll find that event and Hitler’s subsequent declaration of war on the US is what propelled the US into WW2 but hey, why let a little thing like facts get in the way of a spittle flecked, incoherent, ignorant rant? I’d also add that when the US invaded Afghanistan and Iraq as a result of 9/11, the Brits were right next to the US forces in fighting not to mention their immediate contribution to Desert Storm of which I was one. Its also a sad fact that American A-10 planes killed more Brits in Desert Storm than the Iraqis managed to so you might want to STFU if you don’t know the first thing about what the hell it is you are talking about.
As for Roger Moore? He’s an actor and thus his opinion, like all these performers is of zero interest to me.
Pretty much what I was thinking, as well. ‘Spittle flecked’. Good description.
Acting is a more dominate right brained function, creative process like all the other arts, liberal arts. Therefore the majority of those Hollywood elites, actors and musicians lean to right brained thinking which is creative and subjective, less analytical, logical and objective like right brain thinking. Believing love will cure terrorist radicalism and psychopaths isn’t logical, so no surprises. Logic says defend yourself.
I too thought Roger Moore was a poor replacement for Sean Connery. His views on firearms does not surprise me. I always thought he was gay, until I read his obituary and found out he was in fact married to a woman!
You will never hear Clint Eastwood or Tom Selleck make those remarks.
Actors live in a make believe world.
Hypocrisy, thy name is Hollywood
They hate guns but continue to take the roles and make millions. If they really hated guns they would refuse the roles and make a statement. Kind of hypocritical don’t you think.
Roger was my # 2 Bond of all time. Yet. Why don’t these “action heroes”, who “use guns” to make a heckuva lot of money, use a % of that money and do something that would negate the need for law abiders to need guns!?
I’ve always found the disdain for firearms among the elite Hollywood class to be somewhat absurd. It has always rung hollow since all of those who “hate” guns, are the ones who use them in their motion picture roles, employ armed security guards at their homes and when they travel, but would deny the right to protect ourselves against those who might harm us as they acknowledge those people exist.
I believe it’s the lemming thing to do among those people since the majority of the controlling interests in their business are liberal/socialist/progressive/Democrats to whom they must kowtow in order to remain employed. God forbid you actually came out and had an original thought that went against the Hollywood mind set.
The one good thing about Roger Moore was if he truly believed what he said, he never tried to force his ideas on the rest of us and his fans. He understood the difference between his personal life and politics and the reason he made the lucrative living he did. In short it wasn’t worth alienating movie gowers simply to make a feel good political point. Others in his profession should take note.
RIP Sir Roger Moore, you were the second best James Bond after Sean Connery and I admired your acting skills and all you did for children.
As others have stated, Roger Moore may have not like guns but he didn’t go around advocating for them to be band or confiscated. His opinions or his own and he was entitled to them.
just another mentally neutered brit
Rawthair!
His comments were on BBC, you never heard Moore preach this to us in the US. Likewise I never heard of him anywhere campaigning for gun lefislation, confiscation, etc… The man never tried to impose his views on others. More stars should follow in his lead.
That is an honest assessment.
Agreed. I always did regard him as a bit of a poof though.
While he was best known for being James Bond, he also had several movies (Wild Gesse and Ffloks come to mind just to name a couple) that involved guns. I find it funny that like many in Hollywood he plays the parts -well- of people that carry things he despises.
On a positive note he was a big supporter of children charities and was knighted for it.
I don’t care who they are… actor…. Dr…lawyer…politician! If you take on the job of a hero that carries a gun to protect the weak and you don’t my guns…… so be it….. you want get my dollars or vote! My right!
Always ironic to hear the rich and powerful bad mouth firearms, while at the same time, having trained body guards with them, who are carrying firearms to protect the elitist. They do not understand the gun sports at all, and yet they portray people who use firearms and carry the money to the bank from their “shoot’em up roles”! Rather like Jay Leno saying that he really does not like cars and motorcycles!! :-))
I liked R. Moore as a actor. Sadly, he was a kook also.
I will always think of Sean Connery when I think of James Bond. I found Moore to be a poseur in comparison.
Amen Dr. Strangelove. Sean Connery is the ONLY James Bond. IMO
Daniel Craig manages to show a little testosterone in the role, but he and Connery are the ONLY ones you’d imagine in the role.
The whole “superspy” thing’s baloney anyway. Any country’s intelligence case officers are like that weird guy who hangs out on the edge of the school playground, trying to find someone vulnerable to entice. It’s how that side of the business works, and it’s not a moral indictment of the men and women in that job. Though, oddly, some of the best sources are “walk-ins” who don’t need enticing (which gets you thinking about how reliable some of those sources are).
Guns largely figure in clandestine operations, not covert ones, so “Bond, James Bond” would rarely even carry one on the job. The current Bond, Daniel Craig, looks and acts like a clandestine operative – not pretty, not polished, but carries proper hardware for the job (like that MP10 he had in Casino Royale) and basically isn’t involved directly in human intelligence gathering..
Right, Sean Connery is James Bond. All the rest couldn’t come close.
Hollywood types make no sense. If there’s one place you see guns and gun violence depicted everywhere, it’s in Hollywood films. Give me a break.
I always thought he was a pansy..
No doubt he was a great actor, and may he rest in peace, but like all the elites, hypocritical for going to the bank on the backs of the firearms they profess to despise.
As a kid I grew up with Roger Moore as James Bond. To me, he was THE James Bond. Sorry to read he was yet another actor who benefited from playing a character using firearms on film, Anyone else find it rather hypocritical they HATED guns personally? RIP Roger Moore!