Every on-screen James Bond has held his pistol in a weird way; up at the side of his head. Connery, Moore, Lazenby, Dalton, Brosnan and Craig all do it. Craig even takes the trope one further with an SMG (!).
But…why? I’d always heard that the best way to hold a pistol is with finger out of the trigger guard and the barrel pointed at the ground in front of you, so if it discharged you don’t blow your head off. Bond is no amateur, so what’s the deal? Is it a thing in the books, to show his recklessness maybe? Is it a Rule of Cool cinematic invention?
Dalton looks to be doing something that might be depicted in a situation where he’s negotiating a crowd or other field of obstacles - and needs the gun near eye level for immediate use (i.e. bringing it up from a downward-pointing position might be too slow or obstructed by surrounding objects.
The gun is held up by the head so both the weapon and the actor’s face can be in the same shot. Finger is in the trigger because it looks threatening. Proper gun safety does not a publicity still make.
The first part I’ll give you but the second? That is a bit of a stretch. How many hunters, soldiers, cops, gangbangers and/or hitmen leave the house saying “ya know, I better just put in some earplugs in case I have to cap someone’s ass today”?
(although there was that one scene in Freebie and the Bean)
Hunters, cops, gangbangers and (other) hitmen just want to look cool, too, so they don’t wear hearing protection, either. Not sure about soldiers… don’t they wear hearing protection under their helmets if they’re going into a firefight?
