And that's not the end of the story 'cos there's a macabre anecdote: He was cremated after his death, and his ashes shipped back to England... becoming lost in the mail enroute. John Lennon's wry comment when he heard the news was that Mal likely "wound up in the Dead Letter Department".

I've found this out:

'Sixth Beatle' Mal Evans Killed in Los Angeles

    By Patrick Snyder and Dolores Ziebarth

    Los Angeles -- Malcolm "Mal" Evans, 40, who was road manager and
bodyguard of the Beatles from 1963 until their breakup, was shot to
death by police in his rented duplex at 8122 West 4th Street the night
of January 4th.

    Earlier in the evening, Fran Hughes, 26, who was living with
Evans, called John Hoernle, Evans's collaborator on a book about the
Beatles.  Hoernle said he found Evans despondent, crying, "really
doped up and groggy."  Evans told him, "Please make sure you and
Joanne [Lenard, the assistant on the book project] finish the book."
Then the two men went to an upstairs bedroom, where Evans picked up a
30.30 rifle which Hoernle said was unloaded.  They scuffled over the
rifle but Hoernle was unable to take it away.

    Hughes called the police, telling them, "My old man has a gun and
has taken Valium and is totally screwed up."

    Four officers arrived shortly and two of them, "David D. Krempa,
30, and Robert E. Brannon, 27, went upstairs.  According to the police
report, Evans, upon seeing the policemen, pointed the rifle at them.
Lt. Charles Higbie of the LAPD robbery and homicide division said,
"Officers directed him to put down the rifle.  He refused to put down
the rifle.  The officers then fired six shots, four of which struck
Evans, killing him instantly.

    Evans's manuscript, tentatively titled *Living with the Beatles
Legend*, was to have been delivered to Grosset and Dunlap January 12th
for publication this year.  Evans, who had produced part of Keith
Moon's last solo album, had also contracted to produce a new group
called Natural Gas, made up of Joey Molland (formerly of Badfinger),
ex-Humble Pie Jerry Shirley, ex-Rare Bird David Kaffinetti and Mark
Clake (formerly of Uriah Heep).  The group has not signed with any
label but was scheduled to record January 5th.

    Evans was described by friends as both a "fantastic person" and
"very troubled man."  He was separated from his wife Lilly, who
reportedly had asked for a divorce shortly before Christmas.

    "If Brian Epstein was the fifth Beatle," Evans's lawywer John
Mason said, "then Mal was the sixth."

    Evans's body was cremated in Los Angeles January 7th, with Harry
Nilsson and other friends attending.  The ashes were flown to England
for final services.

    -- from the February 12, 1976 issue of *Rolling Stone*

Why would it lower your opinion of George Martin if he loved guns? You can love guns without wanting to kill people with them. :p

Hide yourself, Mairi's coming!

I think the world would be a much better place without guns. If we didn't have guns, John wouldn't have had to die.

Wasn't it George Harrison saying: 'If everybody who owns a gun shoots himself, this world would be much more peaceful.'

That's so true.

And all guns are made to be used.

Yes but People kill people. Without guns there would be something else. If George Martin loves guns maybe he uses them for hunting or target shooting. Or maybe he just likes how they look.

Has anybody of you asked Sir George about this liking? I don't think he likes guns at all. That doesn't go with him IMO.

Found this:

MM: "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" is one of the best tracks ...

MARTIN: That was a great one, tremendous.

MM: How did you get the scratchy 78 effect?

MARTIN: That's dead easy, anyone can do it; you just literally put on a scratchy surface and speed up the voices slightly. That song started off with my quoting to them from around the time of the Kennedy thing a magazine headline, a sporting magazine ...

MM: Guns & Ammo?

MARTIN: Something like that ... and that was the headline over a picture of a man with a gun in his hands. I showed it to John, and he made a song of it.

so what can we deduce? He liked sporting magazines!!  

People kill people, with guns. Do you think all of those school shootings could have been accomplished as easily without a gun?

Sadly there are other methods,... devastating methods.  

Quoted from Mairi

People kill people, with guns. Do you think all of those school shootings could have been accomplished as easily without a gun?

Probably not, but if you take away any weapon and people still have hate and ignorance, their will still be killing. Why get rid of the instrument, you have to get rid of the true cause of the problem.