What movies/tv shows portray civilian gun ownership as totally normal?

I remember watching some old British movies where occasionally an upper-crust type character had a gun room in his mansion It was portrayed as a normal thing for such an "aristocrat" to have.

Guess that wouldn't be allowed in a modern day UK film.
 
I worked with a guy from the UK who used to be a member of the SAS is in the 80's and early 90's. When he left the military, he joined up with a cruise line company as a security officer. About 10 years later, he became a naturalized US citizen (no dual citizenship). When I asked him why he did that, he said, "In the US, they let me play with guns." I smiled, nodded, and shook his hand, lol.
 
Just like in real life, 99.9% of firearms are never fired or displayed in anger, but they're an integral part of a lot of peoples' lives - what media shows this?
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The Beverly Hillbillies were always running around with long guns...
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And Granny threatened people all the time and tried to murder General Grant.

Barney Fife had a pistol.
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Cop who displayed in anger and often ND'd in incompetent anger.

The Soprano's guns were pretty much a normal part of life.
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And often displayed in anger and in breaking the law. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eEkfbqAjDs

Gunsmoke, and most other Westerns, for that matter.
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Showed guns being used in anger frequently, often illegally.
 
The animated show American Dad has guns in it frequently. Often to some joke point, but sometimes its pretty funny.

In one episode the main character Stan is responding to a break in when he leaps out of bed and pulls a pistol grip shotgun out of his pillow and says a line that had me rolling.

"ahh pillow gun. Three hundred thread count (works the action) three hundred dead count"
 
IMHO, the best TV show of all time on many levels but especially regarding respect for the value of firearms: The Rifleman starring Chuck Connors as Lucas McCain, circa late 1950s and early 1960s. If you're lucky enough to get these in re-runs, enjoy.
 
The only one I can think of offhand, and yes I know it is heavily scripted and probably more fiction than non-, is Pawn Stars.
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Somebody brought in a holster or something that fit a 1911 in one episode.
Rick drew a 1911 out from inside his back waistband to stick in the holster or whatever it was.
His comment when the custmer's eyes sort of widened @ the sight of the gun was "Hey, I work in a pawn store, what do you expect?"

Rifleman1952 - amc runs it every Saturday morning starting at 6:00am.
Great show!
 
Last Man Standing with Tim Allen. Works at an outdoor store, has guns mounted in his home, and offices. Lots of talk about hunting and guns.

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Early on in American Choppers the OCC guys used to go shotgun shooting. Sporting clays I think.
Mikey even got a custom AK/saiga shotgun from the Red Jacket guys in one cross over episode.
 
In the film Seconhand Lions, both Robert Duvall and Michael Caine use guns frequently (mainly shotguns) for purposes such as fishing (Rober Duvall's character doesn't have the patience for a rod and reel), trap shooting, sorting lions out of their garden, and scaring off unwelcome salesmen (not the most responsible portrayal of gun ownership but it is amusing).

Also, in the film Independence Day, Judd Hirsch's character answers his front door with a double barrel shotgun due to the nearly riotous panic over the presence of an alien ship over NYC.

McClintock features John Wayne and various other characters using guns for various purposes. The only person who gets "shot" in the film is Patrick Wayne's character who is unharmed because the gun was loaded with blanks.

Finally, in the film Jerimiah Johnson, Robert Redford uses two Hawken rifles and a muzzle-loading pistol for hunting, defense, and other miscellaneous uses.
 
Somebody brought in a holster or something that fit a 1911 in one episode.
Rick drew a 1911 out from inside his back waistband to stick in the holster or whatever it was.
His comment when the custmer's eyes sort of widened @ the sight of the gun was "Hey, I work in a pawn store, what do you expect?"
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Yeah, that one got me chuckling - the door man at the shop carries as well, Browning HP I think
 
reality tv centered on the south, your basic swamper on 'ax men' as an example who isn't hunting(he collects old logs in the water to sell) who carries

most cop shows(as in: it is normal off-duty to have a weapon off duty and/or when getting ready to go out, etc
 
I was going to say "Tremors" Reba and Bert? Seem like us salt of the earth types,don't they?At least they aren't strange or anything.Those Dillon case tumblers do have some action...
 
There is a really great film festival in Estonia, every November. Lots of variety. Some utter crap and some real gems I'd never have watched otherwise.

One such gem was Winter's Bone. It is set in Missouri, IIRR.

It is not a cheery film.

Actually it is quite harrowing at times, but it does show guns in normal, mundane aspects of daily life: eldest sister teaching young siblings to shoot with a .22 to get squirrels for dinner (even teaches them one of the 4 rules in that scene). Later there is a scene where the girl's pretty intimidating uncle is cleaning a HP (again, IIRR) at table whilst they discuss her dilemma (repo of her home following father's disappearance).
Basically the guns in these scenes were props: added details about these people's lives, but not even remotely central to the plot.

Later that same uncle goes for a semi rifle in his pickup when he confronts the not so legit sheriff. No shots fired....

Good movie, but not if you aren't in the mood for a bit of gritty realism!!
 
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Gunsmoke, and most other Westerns, for that matter.
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Showed guns being used in anger frequently, often illegally.
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Not all of them. There was Little House on the Prairie. I don't remember any kind of negative use of firearms there. Didn't The Walton's have a gun?

There were other shows in that time period too... On Gentle Ben, I remember Dennis Weaver played a game warden, and carried a gun, but I don't remember him ever using it. Then again I haven't seen it since I was a kid. :confused:
 
There have been a few movies, mostly set in Africa, that were centered around hunting or capturing wild animals, in which guns appeared in a normal way, not that going on safari is particularly normal. Easily the best is John Wayne's Hatari from the early 1960s. That one was about people capturing animals for zoos but there's some shooting, though not at animals. Interesting scene of shooting at bottles, just to see how well someone could shoot. They don't make movies like that anymore. Come to think of it, don't remember any like that earlier, either.

The first Tarzan movie with Weismueller was based on a safari and there is also some shooting but guns don't otherwise enter into the storyline, as I recall. Tarzan, of course, never uses a gun, his knife being sufficient, and neither did Weismueller's reincarnation as Jungle Jim, even though his enemies (it is enemies that make life interesting) always had guns, if only very ordinary guns. A couple of them even had big gunfights and in one he promised to teach the female lead how to shoot.
 
Just thought about it, Last Man Standing (not the Bruce Willis movie) has guns in nearly every episode. The guy works at a sporting goods store, and there are several that can bee seen in many of the scenes. There's even one I remember where he's cleaning the gun like it's an every day chore.
 
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