Elvis Was a ‘Lousy Shot’ Despite Constantly Firing His Guns

Elvis Presley’s guns were among his favorite possessions. He kept many stored in his homes and nearly always had one with him. This became a point of major concern for his bodyguards. While they knew it was important for Elvis to be able to protect himself against people who wished him ill, it was dangerous for everyone else. Elvis loved firing his weapons without warning, and his bodyguards said he was a terrible shot.

Elvis loved guns but was a terrible shot, said his bodyguard

Many of the people in Elvis’ life noted that when he liked something, he struggled to enjoy it in moderation. He liked guns, so he strove to build his own arsenal. 

“Elvis is never without a gun,” his bodyguard Sonny West said in the book Elvis: What Happened? by Steve Dunleavy. “Mostly he carries two or even three on him. Even when he is on stage, he carries a tiny four-shot Derringer in the top of his boot. He always rationalizes that he needs guns for protection against nuts. Well, I got to admit, there are plenty of nut cases around, but he has literally dozens of guns. Over the years he has bought hundreds, I mean hundreds. He doesn’t need that many guns to protect himself.”

The primary problem his bodyguards faced was that Elvis liked firing his guns indoors, without warning. He blew up televisions, toilets, and light fixtures. He also had terrible aim, a flaw that proved dangerous on multiple occasions. Sonny recalled a time when Elvis nearly killed his girlfriend, Linda Thompson, because he missed his target. He shot through the bathroom door while she was in there.

“I think he was trying to hit a light holder on the opposite wall,” West said. “Well, he’s a lousy shot and he missed. The damn bullet went straight through the wall and missed Linda by inches. If she had been standing up next to the toilet paper holder, it would have gone right through her leg. If it had changed course or bounced off something, it could have killed her, man.”

This was not the only time he nearly hit someone

This was far from the only time Elvis nearly hit someone with his reckless shooting. When his fiancée, Ginger Alden, told him he should stop eating yogurt and go to sleep, he fired bullets into the headboard of the bed she was in. 

While in a hotel room with a large group of people, Elvis unexpectedly shot at his television. The bullet ricocheted back towards the group.

“Now this time the bullet — I guess it was a .22 — whizzed around in that TV set inside, bounced off and came out again,” West said. “It whistled past Vernon [Presley’s] head and hit Dr. Nick right under the heart.”

Luckily, the bullet had slowed enough at this point that it didn’t hurt anyone. Still, it shook everyone in the room.

Elvis tried to teach Priscilla Presley to fire a gun

While Elvis was not a good shot, he wasn’t nearly as bad as Priscilla Presley. He felt it was something she should know how to do, so he gathered a crowd outside Graceland to watch as he taught her.

“After deciding on the right one, a long barreled .45, he handed it to Priscilla, who almost dropped it due to its weight in her hand,” Graceland maid Nancy Rooks wrote in the book Inside Graceland: Elvis’ Maid Remembers. “We should have known then to move back a little.”

Priscilla closed her eyes as she squeezed the trigger, prompting everyone watching to run to safety.

“It would not have been too bad if she had only fired one shot,” Rooks explained. “But she must have gone into a panic because she kept pulling the trigger, spraying the entire wall area, and again showering anyone within about thirty feet of where she was with brick particles. It was like a mass stampede as everyone scrambled back toward the house, trying to get out of the way of any future surprises.”

Luckily, no one was hurt. When everyone realized this, they burst into applause.