I know that RDA already had an aversion to guns, and put that into his part... but what if 'Blood Brothers' never happened to MacGyver? I mean, Im sure he would have still hated guns... but do you think that he would have had such a sever reaction to them? Do you think he would have *used* one to defend himself as a *last* resort, if 'Blood Brothers' never happened in his childhood?

I think it is explained that what has happened in his childhood caused this enormous dislike for guns.
Clearly it's against Mac's nature to use violence in either which way, and I doubt that he would ever use it against someone other than to defend himself.
But even if his friend hadn't died of that incident I think he'd still detest guns and other fire weapons. Maybe not as strongly as he does now, but I think his disgust would keep him from using any gun.

That's a really good question...

My opinion; when you have a natural aversion to guns anyway, and have the ability to do things other ways, it doesn't matter what has happened in the past. But when faced with a life or death situation... Ya' know... I really don't know.

Echo Sheepy... she said it much better that I.

I don't think it would make any difference.

I would say MacGyver dislikes guns for the same reason as most other people.. because they are weapons of death and violence*.

I think the blood brothers experience just added a personal edge to his dislike. but certainly wasn't the cause of it.

Lots of people don't like guns.. but not many of them have ever had a friend shot by one.


* if anyone wishes to take exception to that comment, do it in PM, not this thread.

Interesting question- but I think MacGyver would still have a disaffinity for guns one way or the other. But certainly the events of "Blood Brothers" just intensified those feelings to hatred. In fact, it's "Blood Brothers" that helps make "The Challenge" all the more powerful as you consider just how much MacGyver loathes even holding a gun, much less to consider actually using it against someone. (In the intended way, that is- MacGyver has no problem taking them apart to use them for his purposes in a nonviolent manner )

Yea; **that's** what I meant. I *know* that he would hate them no matter what happened in his childhood - that he *wouldn't* have used them just out of principle. Only, the fact that it seems to greatly affect him just to *look* at one, or even hold one as you said. I mean, *I* hate guns.... but if it meant shooting one *or* letting something unspeakable happen.... I dont know if I *wouldnt* do it. Im not saying I *would*... but you know what I mean. Lol - although, *Im* not as smart as Mac.... so I probably wouldnt have another choice .

I just thought of something here...

Before the shooting of his friend, he had no worries about guns.. in fact he was as keen as the other kids to be playing with his fathers hand gun.

So maybe the blood brothers shooting is the defining event that takes him from disliking guns to hating them?

I still think MacGyver would end up with a strong dislike for guns regardless, thats just the kind of person he is. but maybe if the shooting didn't happen, he may not have hated guns quite so much.. maybe just a strong dislike.. rather than hatred.

If it weren't for Blood Brothers, I don't think he would have had a problem with guns. Other than a healthy respect. He probably would have been caught and punished and lectured about taking his Dad's gun and then he's next experience with guns would have been lessons by his father or basic training.

I was thinking the *same* thing!
Only, I think that whole experimenting-with-his-dads-gun thing would have turned him into not liking them anyway, even if the shooting *didnt* happen. He'd have just had more of a strong dislike rather then a hatred (like you said). Im sure that the other kid would have aimed for the bird anyway, and Mac wouldnt have liked *that* either way.... so he would have still seen guns as something that kills things.... I think. Either way, at *that* point he would have hated them.... I just dont know if he would have been as I-dont-even-want-them-*near*-me as he is. Lol - and we could ponder forever about that .

I still wonder if his aversion to guns comes from something even darker in his past than the accidental shooting of his friend (possible fanfic, maybe? ) Obviously, his friend's death is a tragedy, but maybe he witnessed something even more violent and brutal involving a gun.

then maybe his first hunting experience would have had the same effect as the shooting.

After all it was seeing a bird shot that turned RDA away from guns in real life. so maybe seeing something shot would have done the same to MacGyver

That I can agree with. It doesn't take much to turn a person off as senseless violence. Even my dad doesn't like guns, and he was a cop. What turned him was hunting trips he took as a child with his father. Trophy hunting is as senseless as you can get.

So, no... after thinking about it, I don't think he'd turn to guns... even when protecting himself. He's smart enough to think of an alternative.

It was Mac's idea to 'borrow' his dad's gun and take his friends target shooting. I figure that is part of the reason that Mac feels so responsible for what happened to Jessie.

When they were shooting, before the accident, Mac told his friends that his dad had taught him to shoot... he was a good shot! To a boy, a gun seems harmless as long as you obeyed the rules... never shoot unless you have a target, and never at a living thing without reason.

So I was taught, and so I believe. But guns are never harmless. They are designed for one purpose. To kill. And that is the one thing that Mac never tried to do, even to his worst enemy.

I've shot a gun many a time and I've never killed a thing.

And, nooooo, not because I'm a bad aim.

I contend that Mac has a problem with guns more from what probably happened to him in war than in his childhood. If we believe 'Countdown', then Mac was Special Forces in Vietnam in a bomb squad. You don't get there without at least qualifying, and using a gun when you need to. I contend seeing lots and lots of first hand results of the use of guns and explosives turned him off of it, in combination with his childhood experience. Of course, this is where MacGyver fans have to turn off their 'continuity hats' for a bit. Some of Mac's past simply doesn't add up if you think about it. So, don't think about it.

Oh, and MacsChick-that bunny has been hopping around here for a long time! May have to address it one day!

I learned to shoot as a kid with my dad, who hunted. I was taught as Loth was taught, and I still agree, although it's been many, many years since I've fired a gun. I have no need. My dad was also military. He told me once that pistols were made for one reason-to kill humans. Thus, he wasn't a pistol fan. He never had one that I saw. In my late childhood/early adolescence, my dad stopped hunting and got rid of his guns. I think he was just done with them.

I think if he hadn’t seen his friend killed by a gun at that young age he may have a different opinion of guns. For example, instead of discarding his disarmed enemies weapons he may consider hanging on to them as an extra security measure to aid escape. With the MacGyverisms such a huge part of the show his childhood experiences and hatred of guns make sure he has to rely on MacGyverisms and help the audience accept that he couldn’t shoot his way out of a situation. If there was a dislike of guns before he joined the Special Forces I’m sure seeing them in action could have made him hate them even more. If he didn’t dislike guns so strongly there could have been occasions when he used them as a last resort instead of his last resort MacGyverisms.
Even with the back story I still have moments when I have trouble believing he would rather carry out some of his MacGyverisms rather than hang on to a gun. Some of his MacGyverisms had high risk to himself and others and seem to me they could have caused just as much, or even more damage than pointing a gun at someone would have.

I think Mac would have been anti-gun even if that hadn't happened at a young age. He was creative even in his youth, so that would have progressed just as it did.

I think the Blood Brothers incident was really only the thing which made him realize how easily and indiscriminately guns can kill. I think if that incident hadn't happened he would have still reached the same conclusion, but it may have just taken a little longer to get there.

Given his skills, I think MacGyver (the character) would have always elected not to use a gun, regardless of the events in "Blood Brothers". However, I think Mac's aversion to guns comes from a deep-seated sense of guilt he carries, in that it was ultimately his actions (bringing the gun) that caused Jesse's death. Traumatic events at a young age can scar a person for life to one degree or another.

In reading the various threads I sometimes wonder if people have difficulty distinguishing between the fictitious character we all know and love and the world he resides in and our real world. People inevitably throw their personal views into the mix, when they are in fact two different things. I know this can't always be helped, as evidenced by what you're about to read below.

I like guns. I used to go target shooting with my dad and uncle when I was younger. During my "MacGyver Years" where I dressed, tried to look like and basically wanted to be MacGyver, I didn't like guns. Then, over the years I've gotten back into guns and with all the BS that is happening in our country with the scared, anti-gun, socialist, wing-nuts trying to tell me and other gun owners what we can and can't do, own or purchase, I've come to realize just how important the 2nd Amendment is and how in an emergency situation I only have myself to rely on. Having said all this, it doesn't cause me to like MacGyver any less or make me any less of a fan.

Here's a question, if Richard Dean Anderson (the actor, the person) is so anti-gun and he wanted to bring that trait to his character of MacGyver, why did he not protest when the script called for "MacGyver" to fire the AK-47 in the pilot episode? The same could be said for his character of Jack O'Neil on SG-1. Could it be because RDA (the person) was getting paid and more often than not, money trumps morals? Seems a tad hypocritical to me.

Because....

1. You don't turn up at a new job and tell the boss that they are doing everything wrong on the first day.

2. RDA had no say in the character in the first season. He was hired to play the role as scripted. This is how Hollywood normally works, especially in a first season. You do what your told or you're fired.

3. RDA doesn't hate guns. MacGyver was his vehicle to express that there are better ways to deal with things than shooting each other. Just because you think humans should be finding better ways to deal with things than through violence doesn't automatically make you a gun hating, sandal wearing tree huger type.

4. SG-1 was about the military so of coarse there will be guns. AND more importantly Jacks attitude was very over the top and slap-stick. I would actually suggest that Jack O'Niell may well have been RDA's caricature of the "gun totting - C4 solves everything" types.


Something else to consider on the original topic is the comment he made to Hines in Tough Boys when Hines says "for someone who doesn't like violence you sure know a lot about it." to which MacGyver replied "That's why I don't like it". That comment leans towards his dislike being borne from a life time of experience and knowledge rather than any one event in his life.

I would argue that RDA does indeed "hate" guns, why else would he have slammed Wayne La Pierre of the National Rifle Association when Mr. La Pierre defended gun owner's rights following the Sandyhook shooting, on his twitter page.

. andersonrdean Does anybody else think Wayne LaPierre, grand Poobah of the NRA, is a paranoid extremist hack? I wish more people were embarrassed by him.

I don't know of one pro-gun, pro 2nd Amendment, person (man or woman) who has called Mr. La Pierre names.

I'm very well aware how the politics in Hollywood work. I was simply pointing out that the majority of people have morals . . . until their livelihood is a factor, than they'll do anything to make the all mighty dollar.

I'm reminded of the scene in "Ghostbusters".

Janine Melnitz: Do you believe in UFOs, astral projections, mental telepathy, ESP, clairvoyance, spirit photography, telekinetic movement, full trance mediums, the Loch Ness monster and the theory of Atlantis?

Winston Zeddemore: Ah, if there's a steady paycheck in it, I'll believe anything you say.

As far as SG-1 is concerned, since RDA was one of the producers, if he is so opposed to guns, he could have said, "I want to take my Jack in a different direction than Kurt did. Remember, Jack's son accidentally killed himself with a gun, so I think this opens the door to my version of Jack not using a gun".

I really shouldn't have expressed my opinion on this topic, as it only pisses people off and causes tension among members.

Wasn't it in the episode The Gun, that at the end of the show they showed the gun being melted down and Mac said something like, One down, one hundred million to go. That sure doesn't sound like a person who just thinks there are better ways to solve problems, that sounds like "gun hating, sandal wearing tree huger type".

See, I'm falling into my own complaint. Mixing real life (RDA) with fiction (MacGyver). I guess this is easy to do, given how much RDA brought of himself to his role of MacGyver.

I thought the same thing of Zachary Levi who brought a lot of himself to the role of CHUCK. Chuck hated guns and only used one one time to save Sarah. However, in a behind the scenes clip with the stars and producers Zachary enthusiastically asked if Chuck was finally going to be able to use a gun and shoot the bad guys.

First you say RDA hates guns Then you argue that if he hated guns he would have taken O'Niell in a different direction.

So which is it. Does he hate guns or not?

Yes you are confusing MacGyver and RDA together. Let's not do that.

Would MacGyver have hated guns as much if the Blood Brothers incident hadn't happened?

So the point I made, quoting RDA with regard to Wayne La Pierre, isn't being disputed?

I think it's pretty obvious RDA hates guns, but as I said, when money comes into the picture most people put their morals aside. Try paying your bills with your morals.

It would have been bad for business if he had taken O'Neil in a different direction because a precedent had already been established with film version of StarGate, so again, in order to make money, personal beliefs take a back seat.

I admitted I was combining RDA (the person) and MacGyver (the character) only because RDA brought so much of himself to his character, (environmental awareness, hockey, healthy eating, human rights, etc.) that it is difficult to know where RDA ends and MacGyver begins.

Whether he would have hated guns so much without this incident occurring depends on what else gun-related happened to him after that. It's clear that this is the defining moment for the character trait to have developed, though.

In the absence of any traumatic and gun-related experience (which isn't that likely, given his background and profession!), I think that using guns still wouldn't have sat well with his preference for a non-violent or minimum violence solution to any problem. Even as a kid, we see that he doesn't believe that killing is OK.

Would he have hated them as much? Possibly not, but I still don't think he'd have been keen

Interesting point Rocket. If we think about people in the real world who don't' like guns - how many of them have had a bad experience with them? Probably not very many. The dislike of guns for most people comes from their upbringing and own judgements. We could assume that the same is true for MacGyver. The things he was taught as a child and the beliefs he had installed into him would have a far stronger effect than a single incident. So from that we could assume that even without the shooting he would have reached the same conclusions about violence and guns because his desire not to take a human life would still be just as strong. Having said that would he be willing to shot to wound without the blood brothers incident?

My guess is no - the line between 'successfully' shooting to wound and accidentally killing with that shot is very narrow and I don't see it as being a risk MacGyver would be prepared to take. Too much can go wrong there.

In the absence of the Blood Brothers incident I could see him shooting a rope to drop something suspended on a bad guy, shooting the lock out of a door or something similar where the gun isn't aimed directly at anything living. I think this would still be a last resort tactic for him though - guns are noisy and using one immediately ups the ante, so they ruin any chance of a stealthy and bloodless exit.

Looking back at all the responses and the original question itself, I stand by my comment, that

I should have ended my response there and not continued the way I did regarding "Richard Dean Anderson", his feelings toward guns and how much of that he brought to "MacGyver".

I apologize for allowing myself to get off-track. I try very hard to not do that in my daily life and should have thought it out more before posting my comments in this particular thread.