Hollywood & gubs

Rico says his friend Mild Bill forwards some good news:

Say what you will about his politics, but Hollywood superstar Brad Pitt definitely believes in his First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and expression.  Oh, and he most definitely believes in his Second Amendment right to own a firearm.Pitt recently put it out publicly that, for reasons known largely to him, he just doesn't "feel safe" without having a firearm handy. Moreover, he doesn't believe guns should be outlawed and is not supportive of any legislative or regulatory attempt to impede gun ownership, despite recent horrific massacres committed by crazies like the lunatic who killed and wounded dozens of moviegoers at a theater in Aurora, Colorado earlier this summer.< "I absolutely don't believe you can put sanctions or shackles on what is made. Nor do I want to pretend the world is different than what we witnessed that night," he told British entertainment magazine Live. "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. I don't feel safe, I don't feel the house is completely safe, if I don't have one hidden somewhere. That's my thinking, right or wrong," he said. On a personal note, and on this particular issue, Brad Pitt could not be more right, but I digress. "I got my first BB gun when I was in nursery school. I got my first shotgun by first grade. I had shot a handgun by third grade and I grew up in a pretty sane environment," he continued. "I was in the U.K. when the shootings in Colorado happened and I did hear the discussion about gun control start again, and as far as I know, it petered out as it always does." "It's just something with us. To turn around and ask us to give up our guns… I don't know, we're too afraid that we're going to give up ours and the bad guys are still going to get theirs," he said. "It's just in our thinking. I'm telling you, we don't know America without guns." In keeping with his point of view, Pitt built his bride and fellow superstar Angelina Jolie an armory and shooting range at their home in southern France at a cost of about $400,000. "I bought original, real guns of the type we used in Tomb Raider for security," she told Britain's Daily Mail in 2008. "Brad and I are not against having a gun in the house, and we do have one. And yes, I'd be able to use it if I had to. If anybody comes into my home and tries to hurt my kids, I've no problem shooting them." Pitt, the star of Fight Club and scores of other hit movies, and Jolie have, of course, starred in a number of films in which his characters use firearms. And while Pitt's usually a darling of both Hollywood and the entertainment media in general; as you might have guessed, he is taking heat over his position, much of it coming from the usual suspects. A blistering editorial in the Canadian paper, The Toronto Sun, said: 

Setting a bad example is almost a career calling for some celebrities. Their drug busts, sex tapes, and DUI charges are old hat by now, so just when you thought there was nothing new under the sun, Brad Pitt announces that he only feels safe if there's a gun hidden somewhere in the house. 

Wow. In the annals of regrettably stupid things to say out loud, Pitt is right up there now with 'legitimate rape' or Christina Aguilera's questions about the location of the Cannes Film Festival. Hmm. Well, hearing a Canadian complain about American gun rights isn't new. Personally, I'm just ecstatic to hear a Hollywood star acknowledge the fact that there are other provisions of the Constitution that are as equally important to freedom and liberty as the First Amendment most of them cherish.