Guns In Movies

Over the summer I worked at Sturm and Ruger Gun Company in New Hampshire. I was part of the video and marketing team for this large company and spent a great deal of time around their products. While working there film and television came up many times, naturally due to the sheer number of movies and television that had firearms in them. These conversations ranged from a Gunsite Academy Range Master criticizing the realism of an actor's form or ability with a handgun, to their meeting of Charlton Heston, star of the original Planet of the Apes, and past president of the NRA.

I also realized what an undertaking, legally and professionally, it would be to provide all the props for a large war movie. Every day we would film a promotional or instructional video with real weapons the crew would go through extensive safety precautions to ensure that a gun was completely safe and that no one was in harms way. But still now and then we would return to the editing room and send out a video to the legal team via Dropbox only to get an email back informing us that it was no good. That for 2 frames the muzzle of a gun was pointing at the camera while the instructor moved it from one side of his body to the other.

Like any other large company, gun companies rely on the media for advertising. One way of advertising is movies and television. The director of media relations within the company informed me that he knew people out in LA prop houses and that Ruger tries to place their guns within many productions. Like this Ruger Alaskan Revolver in the Rock's hand.

A gun designed solely for Alaskan fly fishermen that may have to fend off a grizzly bear that sneaks up behind them from several yards away but I'm sure the rock will be picking off bad guys left and right from whatever range he feels is necessary.