Celebrities who are pro-gun

While they may not be activists for the gun lobby, many celebrities have guns - even the ones you might not expect. In this gallery, celebrities speak out as being pro-gun, carry guns of their own, or even serve as active members of the National Rifle Association (NRA).

Brad Pitt may be a liberal, but he was raised with guns. As he told Live Magazine, he got his first gun in kindergarten. "America is a country founded on guns. It's in our DNA. It's very strange, but I feel better having a gun. I really do." Pitt also told Live Magazine that "you can't put sanctions or shackles on what is made." Meaning that, if the "bad guys" have access to guns, so should everyone.

Brad Pitt and his ex-wife Angelina Jolie "bonded over their love of shooting, and the two even had a pair of handguns customized by Jesse James," according to Forbes. Jolie told Live Magazine that she would use that gun too: "If anybody comes into my home and tries to hurt my kids, I've no problem shooting them."

The famous 'Hunger Games' actress dreams of "having a nice house with a big dog and a shotgun," as she told Rolling Stone. At the same time, she advocates limits on gun ownership in American society.

The country star is a happy gun owner. So happy that she sings with the Pistol Annies, has a song called 'Time to Get a Gun', and wore pumps to the 2016 American Country Awards with a tiny gun and holster on them. "I'm pro on guns and I'm a hunter, so for me, that's what I use guns for, protection and hunting," she told The Boot. The Country Awards must have been a very dangerous place then!

The American actress was taught to shoot a rifle and hunt in the woods by her father. In fact, she had to, because her family was poor and needed food on the table. Still, even now that she's rich, she tells the Chicago Tribune, "I love shooting guns. Being able to do that was just like a vacation for me - instead of getting dressed up and putting on lingerie."

He's known to be fast with pistols in his many movies, but off-set the filmmaker also likes to carry a gun. In fact, the actor is quoted in many media with this adagio: "I have a very strict gun control policy: if there's a gun around, I want to be in control of it."

Another actor with liberal political views, Johnny Depp is fond of guns. The Huffington Post reported that he learned to shoot as a kid. "We would just go out and line up a bunch of cans and shoot with rifles, handguns and at times, submachine guns," he said in 2009. It was always "in a controlled atmosphere," he added. "I will most certainly take my kids out for target practice."

Depp's ex-wife Amber Heard probably connected with him for their shared love of guns. She told the Daily Mail in 2010 that her "baby is a .357 Magnum." She added: "I sleep with my gun in a place that’s close enough that if I needed to protect myself, I could. ... I’m fully trained and I’m an active member of a gun club. I’m definitely pro-gun." At the same time, she said, there had to be some reform in gun control, because too many people were dying from gunshot wounds.

Although he has an arms collection with a "thirty- or forty-gun arsenal," as he told Esquire in 2014, Christ Pratt believes that a background check would be appropriate for anyone buying a gun.

The legendary actor claimed in a 2012 interview with the Daily Intelligencer that he believed in gun control but that legal and responsible owners - like himself - had rights that"you can't infringe on."

The New York Post once listed all the celebrities in the Big Apple who'd been granted permission to carry weapons. It's not easy to get one in the gun-prohibitive metropole. One of the lucky few is Latino singer Marc Anthony. He has a concealed-carry permit, which means he can wear a loaded weapon in secret, the Daily News explained.

A famous pro-gun celebrity and defender of the Second Amendment (the right to bear arms) is 'Magnum P.I.' star Tom Selleck. Until recently, the actor was on the Board of Directors of the NRA. He even owns so many guns that there's a special section in the NRA Museum dedicated to his firearms.

The American actor supports "people having a gun in public full stop, not just in your home," he told the British GQ magazine in 2015. "It's not about duck hunting, it's about the ability of the individual. It's the same reason we have freedom of speech." Banning guns was not an option, the actor said. For safety in schools, he proposed that students and teachers be allowed and bring their own guns into class and protect themselves.

A known liberal in Hollywood, Whoopi Goldberg is also a member of the NRA and she owns a gun. Talking to Rand Paul on 'The View' in 2016, she did say, however, that she couldn't understand "why anyone objects to getting rid of automatic weapons. Automatic weapons do nothing. They're only there to kill."

The 'Die Hard' actor is a supporter of the Second Amendment. The BBC quotes him as saying in 2013 that "if you take guns away from legal gun owners, then the only people who would have guns would be the bad guys."

Willis's ex-wife and the mother of his three children is also a fan of guns. Just like her ex-husband she owns some precious firearms for personal use.

When Demi Moore married Ashton Kutcher, they bought guns together, the Daily Mail reports. The actor even posted a photo on Instagram with his wife holding her gun, saying "This is why we don't mess with Mrs. Kutcher."

When Rumer Willis, Demi Moore's daughter, turned 26, she got a gun-shaped cake from her mother. "Best birthday cake ever," she wrote on social media. A few years prior, her then-stepfather Ashton Kutcher had told the Daily Mail that "when the girls [Rumer and her sisters] bring boys back to the house, I take them out and show them how to shoot."

The 'Hawkeye' star owns guns and wants to "keep it that way," as he wrote on his personal website in 2012. "Taking guns from people is no answer... guns don’t kill people… people kill people." He did support gun control measures, though, as he appeared in a celebrity PSA to 'demand a plan' from the government in the same year.

Madonna is another celeb repeating the phrase that "guns don't kill people, people kill people." In the show 'Good Morning America' she said that she owns a gun and that she's in favor of using prop guns in her live shows. That being said, she's also in favor of gun control - for others, not herself.

He's another known pro-gun star. James Earl Jones lent his voice to 'The Lion King' and 'Star Wars,' while also playing the King of Zamunda in Eddie Murphy's 'Coming to America.' The actor is a member of the NRA. "I just believe in my right to have a gun in my house," he wrote in his memoir 'Voices and Silences.' He does not support the NRA's right-wing politics though.

Several media have quoted Robert Downey Jr.'s remarks about owning a gun. Or at least, he used to own one. "I don’t think I’m allowed to have a gun anymore. They took it," he said after his arrest for drug possession in 1996. "I think I deserve to have it back when my probation is over. It’s not like I did anything with the gun except pretend that I was skilled in its use." Although it's been decades, the actor never made any statements to indicate his opinion on firearms or gun control had changed.

Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry, here playing with Johnny Depp in the band Hollywood Vampires, is an outspoken gun lover. He appeared in Discovery Channel's 'Sons of Guns' and told Fox News in 2012 that he has "always been fascinated with guns." As an old-school Republican, he feels that "the bottom line is the Constitution is what it is," which means that the right to bear arms should be respected at all times.

Superman may not have used a gun, but the man playing him certainly does! Actor Dean Cain even entered the Board of Directors of the NRA in 2018. In 'The Morning Show,' he once said that "gun violence is a problem" but that the solution would be: more guns for the 'good' guys. "I worry about my son when he goes to school because I know it's a gun-free zone and I know that if someone came in with a firearm there's nobody there to stop him. I would love to have a conceal-carry permit because I'd like to be the person who would stop somebody in that situation." Once a hero, always a hero!

You may remember her from 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer,' but nowadays it's mostly deer and elk she slays! Eliza Dushku likes to hunt and even brought a bow with her to the 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' show. She told the audience that she loves hunting and shooting.

The 'CSI: New York' actor is a supporter of several veterans' organizations and openly pro-gun. He told Larry King that you "can't get rid of guns. Taking people's right to protect themselves from bad people is not something you can do."

A spokesman for the NRA, the 'Walker, Texas Ranger' has always taken a stand against gun control. According to the publication 'NRA On the Record,' Norris' family has an engraved picture of a gun on their ranch that reads: "We don't call 9-1-1."

The comedian has been around guns since he was a kid in Arizona. Spade and his siblings would go into the desert with a rifle and a pistol, as Hollywood Reporter cites him, and "just walk, shoot cactus, shoot birds, shoot roadrunner, kill rattlesnakes..." It's not surprising that firearms are important to him.

The Metallica frontman loves to go hunting and is an active member of the NRA. "I love my guns," he told the Washington Post. "I love that my dad handed them down to me and I’m taking care of them." About gun control, he said: "I don't want to make it easier for someone to have an assault weapon, but I also want to be able to protect my family."

The country singer has known how to handle a gun since she went hunting as a girl with her father. One day, when Parton and a female friend were in New York, she pulled her pistol on a man who harassed them on the street. "I pointed it at him and told him if he didn't take a hike I'd turn him into a soprano," she told the National Enquirer.

The rock musician is a known gun aficionado. He served on the board of the NRA and often exclaims his commitment to the Second Amendment (the right to bear arms) to whoever lets him.

NBA Hall of Famer Karl Malone has also served on the board of the NBA, and just like Nugent, he is an avid hunter. Once he told Sports Illustrated: "I don't go anywhere in my vehicle without my weapon."

The former president's friendliness to the NRA has often been explained by political opportunism. The association is a powerful ally for several American politicians. However, Trump is also the owner of several firearms. In fact, he thinks he's an excellent shooter. In 2016, Trump told a French magazine that he was "always carrying" and that he would have been able to single-handedly stop the 2015 Bataclan attack with his fighting prowess.

Samuel L. Jackson has weapons at home for his protection against intruders. If they don't respond to his warning that he has a gun, he told The Guardian, then "a big tongue of fire will come out of the end of this weapon."

Fellow actor Ben Affleck has the same ideas about guns. He keeps them at home for the safety of his family. In an interview with Bill Maher, he talked with some sense of relief about the fact that "in California, anyway, you can shoot an intruder in your home."

When talking to Ben Affleck, Bill Maher disclosed that he, too, had weapons at home. With regard to gun control, both the talk show host and the actor agreed that they would not be "disarming unilaterally." In other words: as long as criminals would have access to guns, so wanted they.

Rapper Ice-T (you may know him as a detective on 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit') takes the Second Amendment very literally. The amendment was meant to enable civilians to defend themselves against a dictatorship in the 18th-century United States. Ice-T still sees the right to bear arms as "the last form against tyranny," however. As he told the British Channel 4 News, "I'll give up my gun when everybody else does."

NBA star Charles Barkley told Bob Costas in an interview that the risk of getting robbed was great enough to want to carry a gun. "I feel a sense of peace when I have it when me." He did add, however, that "it would take extreme circumstances for me to even touch it."

Known for series like 'Chuck' and 'Firefly,' Adam Baldwin is not afraid to share his conservative opinions on social media. After the mass shooting in Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland in 2018, the actor tweeted that more guns, not less, would be the solution to tragedies like this one. "The shooter was stopped by people with firearms," he tweeted. "Schools need armed security and volunteer staff members with CCW."

Like many others, the famous deejay reacted in horror to the killing of 49 people in the Pulse club in Orlando. He did not favor gun control, though. Instead, as Billboard reported, Stern said that the "sheep" needed to arm themselves against the "wolves."

Eric Clapton likes guns. He has a big collection of vintage guns and only auctioned some of them so that he could go out and buy more guns. As the guitarist told Metro, he also likes to use the pieces: "I find shooting a much more social pastime than fishing."

While he was still serving as Vice President, Cheney got himself into trouble during a hunting trip in Texas. He accidentally shot an acquaintance with whom he had gone hunting quail on a Saturday morning. Later, he confessed the embarrassing story on NBC News. His friend suffered a non-fatal heart attack but soon recovered.

Actor Kurt Russell, here posing with his stepdaughter Kate Hudson, once got into a heated argument about guns while promoting Quentin Tarantino's film 'The Hateful Eight.' Asked about violence in the film and the many shootings in American society, he told interviewer Jeffrey Wells: "If you think gun control is going to change the terrorists' point of view, I think you're, like, out of your mind."

Celebrity chef Alton Brown has a well-equipped kitchen at home which also includes multiple guns, he tells the followers of his Twitter account (@altonbrown). From PPKs to Kimber 1911s, he discusses his go-to firearms as gladly as his favorite recipes.

He doesn't just own West Coast Choppers but also Jesse James Firearms Unlimited - just to give you an idea of where the celebrity entrepreneur stands in relation to guns. In fact, Jesse James promotes the NRA and once built a "custom pair of Cisco 1911s" for Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. "Both are hand fit from all oversize parts, making them incredibly accurate, well-shooting pistols," he proudly told Forbes.

Actor and influencer Dan Bilzerian doesn't make a secret of his love for guns. One day, he posted a photo of his gun collection on social media and wrote the following caption: "My greatest fear is that someone will break in & I won’t be able to decide what #gun to shoot them with."

When a country music concert in Las Vegas was disturned by a massacre in 2017, Rolling Stone magazine claimed that many country musicians would have to reconsider their stances on gun control. For Brantley Gilbert that did not seem to be a concern, however, because he has a tattoo for the Second Amendment - with two pistols in it - covering nearly his entire back.