Liam Neeson might be brandishing a gun on posters for Taken 3 all around town, but in light of the recent Charlie Hebdo attacks in France, and ongoing protests against police brutality in America, the actor told tabloid! he’s still firmly in favour of gun control.
“First off, my thoughts and prayers and my heart are with the deceased, and certainly with all of France, yesterday. I’ve got a lot of dear friends in Paris,” the 62-year-old said.
“There’s too many [expletive] guns out there,” he continued. “Especially in America. I think the population is like, 320 million? There’s over 300 million guns. Privately owned, in America. I think it’s a [expletive] disgrace. Every week now we’re picking up a newspaper and seeing, ‘Yet another few kids have been killed in schools.’”
Asked whether or not he thinks this issue extends to police responsibility, he said: “Let’s not get into it. Let’s put it this way: I think a light has been shone on the justice system in America, and it’s a justifiable light.”
It may seem a tad hypocritical for an actor who is most famous for killing people who take his kidnap his family members, however Neeson does not think that cinema is the problem:
“A character like Bryan Mills going out with guns and taking revenge: it’s fantasy. It’s in the movies, you know? I think it can give people a great release from stresses in life and all the rest of it, you know what I mean? It doesn’t mean they’re all going to go out and go, ‘Yeah, let’s get a gun!’,” he added.
I actually agree with that. After all one of the most popular movies of all time is the Lord of the Rings trilogy and yet you don't hear of too many cases of people killing each other with bows and arrows.
I personally am a huge fan of action movies, and have watched literally hundred, yet I own no firearms and have never brandished one in anger.
People kill people with guns because guns are plentiful and because we are taught from infancy that they are a source of prestige and power in this country.
I have always seen that as a sign of weakness, not strength.
