“It’s well known that the greatest defense against an intruder is the sound of a gun hammer being pulled back.” – actor/comedian Vince Vaughan in True Detective’s Vince Vaughn covers British GQ [via gq-magazine.co.uk]

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76 COMMENTS

    • Watch “Couple’s Retreat”. There’s a scene where his wife is sleeping and he hears a strange sound. He goes to his finger safe, pops it open and retrieves a point and shoot pistol of some variety. NO fanfare or hesitation. He just calmly arms himself and goes to check and finds his buddy on the porch and warns him to let him know he’s there in the middle of the night then puts the gun back no big deal. He had a hand in the scene as did the director Peter Billingsley, Ralphie from “A Christmas Story”. Both are pro 2-A.

  2. ” On whether guns should be allowed in schools: “Of course. You think the politicians that run my country and your country don’t have guns in the schools their kids go to? They do.”

    Win goes to the manchild! This is the main problem with the euro world view in general, they DON’T feel like their lives are of equal value to their masters. In America we would use the politicians as human shields.

  4. The entire quote, in context, deserves applause:

    “I support people having a gun in public full stop, not just in your home. We don’t have the right to bear arms because of burglars; we have the right to bear arms to resist the supreme power of a corrupt and abusive government. It’s not about duck hunting; it’s about the ability of the individual. It’s the same reason we have freedom of speech. It’s well known that the greatest defence against an intruder is the sound of a gun hammer being pulled back. All these gun shootings that have gone down in America since 1950, only one or maybe two have happened in non-gun-free zones. Take mass shootings. They’ve only happened in places that don’t allow guns. These people are sick in the head and are going to kill innocent people. They are looking to slaughter defenceless human beings. They do not want confrontation. In all of our schools it is illegal to have guns on campus, so again and again these guys go and shoot up these f***ing schools because they know there are no guns there. They are monsters killing six-year-olds.“

  5. Close enough for me. I read some of the article- I’d say Vince has been doing homework.
    He might not make my kinda movies, but I can definitely respect him as a man- can’t say that about most actors anymore..

  6. I do not seek to harm or steal from others and want to be a good member of society, and would like to the same in-kind – however such is best achieved.

  10. One of the almost unique voices of sanity in a wasteland of delusional, irrational and perverted thought of the liberal/progressive/statist elitist.

  11. I have a sick feeling in my stomach that hollywood will villify him…nay…even crucify him for speaking his mind about guns.

    • Read some of the comments to the article. Click over to Salon for more, they HATE him for not toeing the party line on guns.

      • You got that right (about the “Salon” comments)…here’s one that shows the ignorance of the commenters:

        “Further, Vaughn gets it DEAD WRONG on the conflation about so-called “gun free zones” and shootings. Is Fort Hood a gun-free zone? Was the fast food restaurant where two Las Vegas cops got murdered a gun-free zone? Was the Aurora movie theater a gun-free zone? Was the grocery store parking where Gabby Giffords got shot a gun-free zone? What about the Washington Navy Yard? Is that a gun-free zone?”

        Sorry, but Fort Hood was basically a gun-free zone, since most military personnel aren’t allowed to carry guns there. Same with the Washington Navy Yard…this commenter has a fantasy about military installations where all soldiers/sailors/whatever walk around with M16s!

        And don’t I remember that the Aurora movie theatre was/is posted as prohibiting guns on the premises?

        Would be nice if the anti-gun crowd even did a LITTLE research on FACTS before giving their OPINION.

        • haha I started to read the comments and all I saw was PIERS MORGAN commenting over and over about “30,000 gun deaths a year”. They just make up their own numbers and think if they repeat it enough, it will somehow become true. Their lemming followers just eat it up.

        • Per John Lott on Aurora:

          “So why did the killer pick the Cinemark theater? You might think that it was the one closest to the killer’s apartment. Or, that it was the one with the largest audience.

          Yet, neither explanation is right. Instead, out of all the movie theaters within 20 minutes of his apartment showing the new Batman movie that night, it was the only one where guns were banned. In Colorado, individuals with permits can carry concealed handgun in most malls, stores, movie theaters, and restaurants. But private businesses can determine whether permit holders can carry guns on their private property.

          Most movie theaters allow permit holders carrying guns. But the Cinemark movie theater was the only one with a sign posted at the theater’s entrance.

          A simple web search and some telephone calls reveal how easily one can find out how Cinemark compared to other movie theaters. According to mapquest.com and movies.com, there were seven movie theaters showing “The Dark Knight Rises” on July 20th within 20 minutes of the killer’s apartment at 1690 Paris St, Aurora, Colorado. At 4 miles and an 8-minute car ride, the Cinemark’s Century Theater wasn’t the closest. Another theater was only 1.2 miles (3 minutes) away.

          There was also a theater just slightly further away, 10 minutes. It is the “home of Colorado’s largest auditorium,” according to their movie hotline greeting message. The potentially huge audience ought to have been attractive to someone trying to kill as many people as possible. Four other theaters were 18 minutes, two at 19 minutes, and 20 minutes away. But all of those theaters allowed permitted concealed handguns.”

        • Cinemark movie theaters sure do have No Beretta signs posted inside, luckily here they carry no force of law.

        • Silly Salon commenter (but I repeat myself…):

          Is Fort Hood a gun-free zone?

          Yes.

          Was the fast food restaurant where two Las Vegas cops got murdered a gun-free zone?

          Unknown, but two police officers being murdered is 1) not a mass shooting, and 2) an assassination, not a spree shooting.

          Was the Aurora movie theater a gun-free zone?

          Yes.

          Was the grocery store parking where Gabby Giffords got shot a gun-free zone?

          No, but that incident was an assassination attempt, not a spree shooting.

          What about the Washington Navy Yard? Is that a gun-free zone?”

          Yes.

        • Lots of news chatter about Aurora shooting trial and murderers notebook with “detailed drawings” and such.

          Has anybody heard about entries that dealt with GFZ?

    • There are so many openly conservative A-list hollywood types that every time I see a “hollywood persecution complex” post, I just laugh. Still waiting for the vilification of Clint Eastwood. Maybe after the next blockbuster he churns out.

  12. ” It’s well known that the greatest defence against an intruder is the sound of a gun hammer being pulled back.”

    Have to applaud the sentiment but doubt he owns a weapon himself due to lack of knowledge of gun terminology. Trigger, not hammer, racking on a pistol/shotgun, not pulled – with a revolver, you are not going to hear the trigger being cocked, just the bang!

    • I’m guessing he means cocking a DA revolver, where you indeed pull the hammer back.

      • Single Action. Though you can can cock most, but all DA revolvers, it’s optional. Not an option with a SA.

        Though counting on a sound to deter someone isn’t the best approach, if it works, that’s a nice outcome.

        O2

    • Let’s not eat our own on this one. He’s got a voice and a microphone; GQ has no small audience.

      His message is sound. Let’s not be like the anti’s and get twisted up over minutia that really, at the end of the day, does not matter and does nothing except dilute the message.

    • Well, TXGungal, not entirely correct. Most modern revolvers are either a heavy double action on your shots or you can manually pull the hammer back with a fairly loud click for a light single action shot.

      Some modern semi-auto pistols like the Beretta 92 is a heavy double action first shot and then single action afterward. If you have the time, you can manually cock the 92 for the first shot with a fairly loud click as well.

      • Thomas, you are right, I have just checked my collection of both modern & vintage revolvers. Kind of mixed, newer DS GP100, audible, newer SP101, audible, newer DA only LCR silent , older Dan Wesson DS barely a whisper. older Colt Detective very audible
        I do love the sound of racking a pistol, even more so a shotgun, that might have been what he was thinking. No matter, if he is a gun guy, he’s OK in my book

    • My wife owns and carries a G26, but still sometimes calls the slide, “the pull back thingy.”

      She owns and drives a car everyday, but would likely believe me if I told her that the car’s in-line rotary girder was out of wack.

      Knowing and doing are not always synonymous. Some people just aren’t mechanically minded.

    • No way man, he is probably so cool he probably carries George Patton’s SAAs and it is their hammers that he is referring to:-)

    • I own several handguns that have exposed hammers that can be pulled back. My Ruger Bearcat is a single-action revolver, so pulling the hammer back is mandatory if you want to shoot it, and it makes a hell of a clickity-clack racket when you do that. It’s a very pleasing sound. Heck, it’s almost as much noise as when someone in a movie or TV show points a Glock at someone. 🙂

      • “It’s a very pleasing sound”

        That would depend on perspective…. Like which end you’re on.

        • True. The engineer in me appreciates the finely-machined quality of the sound, but if I were on the wrong side of it, I imagine I wouldn’t be able to pick out the finer points. It *is* a very distinctive and unmistakable sound, though.

    • Revolvers do make a fairly audible click when the hammer is cocked. In a situation that is fairly quiet it would be clearly heard across a room.

      The video has the hammer on a revolver being cocked, and it is clear and distinctive sounding. It is at 1:10 minutes in.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g31VpLGceDM

    • The hammer being pulled back on a revolver is a very distinctive sound etched into the minds of anyone who watched a Clint Eastwood or Charles Bronson movie or pretty much any old western. His terminology may be antiquated but none of it is incorrect. In a quiet environment under a stressful situation(dark home during a break in) it sounds like the loudest series of clicks you’ve ever heard and will likely send chills down your spine even if it’s you thumbing the hammer.

    • Sound of the hammer being pulled back. Um. Makes the quote look stupid.

      The greatest defense against an intruder is the knowledge there is a person with a gun on the other side.

  13. There’s a lot to like about Vince. Including the fact (as he will readily attest) that his trigger finger has touched Jennifer Anniston’s bare naked ass.

  14. I liked him as an actor before this, I like him even more as a person now. Just sad that by speaking the truth he has likely ended his career in Hollywood…

    • Vince has been thumbing his nose at Hollywood’s politics for years now, and he’s still going strong because he ignores the people who piss and moan about it. Most times, all it takes to shut these people up is to basically say “I don’t care about your feelings, never have and never will, so grow the f*ck up.” They’re not used to having their tender sensibilities ridiculed and have no idea how to handle someone who won’t immediately fold to their demands for contrition.

      Chris Pratt (another really cool guy who happens to work in Hollywood) is the same way; instead of spinelessly groveling to crybabies offended by the “sexism” in Jurassic World, he gave a backhanded apology mocking their hypersensitivity and making it clear that he didn’t really care what they thought. The crybabies responded with… nothing.

  16. There’s a scene in Couples Retreat where Vince Vaughn’s house is broken into by one of his friends. If I recall correctly, he takes a pistol out of the bedside table and investigates. I’d never seen such a pro-gun scene in a movie before and it resonated with me for a long time.

    I don’t doubt Vaughn owns firearms and suspect he may even have a carry permit. Other than Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, I can’t think of any A-list celebrities who are as pro-gun.

    Also, I can’t wait for True Detective season two…

  19. Those letters were disturbing. That one woman thinks that the gun industry will just close down? I know that hippy utopian think. Those folk need guidance. Slow guidance.

    They have it correct that the intention for peace is the way to go. Anything you want you must mean it and sustain that desire. However today there are a bunch of crazies, people with no home training ( who are of every color ), spoiled rich kids, social deviants, and regular folk who never learned the word “no” out there ready to do some harm.

    So one must be prepared.

  21. Sure, the hammer comment was stupid, but don’t let the perfect get in the way of the good. It was an awesome interview, especially when he noted that our dear leaders’ kids all go to schools with guns, and that our kids deserve the same protection. Bravo!

  22. He’s a cool guy. I met him at work once and he cracked me up. One his cars is a black Audi A7 or A8.

  23. Although declared a Libertarian, Vaughn has been making appearances at Patriot and Tea Party type events. This triangulates his viewpoints with greater clarity.

    • He traveled with Ron Paul quite a bit campaigning for him during at least one of his presidential campaigns. This guy is alright.

  24. I have to hand it to TTAG.
    I was just over on Salon. OMG!
    Such bold in your face ignorance. Ideas that these people’s kids could unravel.
    Over here things roll along. Enthusiasts talking then someone says something ignorant like “Obama’s Children.” (They are far from his children. Not the same social or economic class.)
    The listeners over here, those willing to hear, far outnumber those over there. The name calling, the assumptions, the stereotyping are sadly present.
    I have heard empathy expressed here for those who are just starting on the path toward truth.
    Oh well.

    • Yep. We get a few ignorant comments here, but generally, the posts are articulate, well written with a preponderance of using fact, history and experience as a reply to the emotional, irrational and many times hateful and pejorative atracks by the anti-freedom/gun people.

  25. My respect for the guy increased ten fold when I read the article. Hollywood needs more rational people like Vince. I know there are several more pro-2A types in Hollywood, though maybe not as vocal.

    Did you know that Alton Brown is one of us?

  27. Good for him. I like Vince Vaughn. I’d like him even more if he was in a good movie for once.

  29. Read the whole section, and man, did he nail it. I just wish the news media would do more interviewing of intelligent, well-spoken 2A advocates instead of always finding the lowest common denominator to interview and making the rest of us look like ignorant, homophobic, etc. fanatics.

    But I also want a million dollars. Some things just aren’t in the cards.

  30. “It’s well known that the greatest defense against an intruder is the sound of a Remington 870 being racked.”
    In all honesty, I have heard that intruders do not like the sound of big dogs.

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