Hollywood actor Kevin Costner of “Yellowstone” recently opened up about his experience with hunting and firearms when he received the T. Boone Pickens Lifetime Sportsman Award in Dallas.
“We will never be able to explain to a cynical world the early mornings, the stops at the Waffle House — that they’re as much a part of the day as the hunt itself. That our gear, dirty and worn, is priceless,” he told the crowd as he accepted the honor.
“It’s comforting, and will hang on the wall long after we’re able to walk the fields. Long after we’re gone, our guns will pass lovingly into the hands of our sons and daughters — and when they bring it to their shoulders and they press it to their cheek, against its worn stock, they’ll feel us and they’ll know the freedom that the outdoors provided,” Costner continued.
Costner explained how his grandmother had given him his first gun when he was 5 years old. “Nowadays, they’d be calling child services on her,” commented C. Douglas Golden of Western Journal. “But she was bred of a different stock.”
“They lost everything in the Dust Bowl when the banks closed their doors,” Costner said of his grandparents. “But before that gun could pass into my hands, my mother had it in hers, and she said, ‘Absolutely not,’” Costner said. “It was a standoff between two strong women — enough to break up my birthday party with me looking 3 feet below, looking up.
“But my grandmother, not wanting it to go any farther — she took the gun back from my mom and she held it up and she simply said, in her Oklahoma twang that if he misuses it, you can take it from him. My mother agreed without a word, and my grandmother bent down and handed it to me.”
“I remember taking it to sharing day in kindergarten,” Costner said. “I carried it to school — nobody walked kids to school back then. I just drug it through the neighborhood.
“All I know is that I was told to bring our favorite thing, and that’s what I did,” he continued. “I remember being sent home with a note pinned on my shirt — I didn’t know how to read — but came to know that if my parents wanted the gun back, they would have to come and get it themselves,” he said.
Costner “never saw that gun again until much later in my life. You learn a lot when you only get one shot and you’re hunting on someone else’s property,” he said jokingly.
Costner, despite being a mischievous child, developed a deep respect for firearms early on. He recognized the importance of understanding the risks associated with guns and the valuable lessons in responsibility and self-reliance that come with using them safely.
Contrary to the beliefs of the left, who often demonize guns and the Second Amendment, Costner sees firearms as tools that can teach important life lessons, offer protection, and enable hunting. He values personal responsibility, stewardship of nature, and the rights bestowed by God, aligning more with conservative figures like William F. Buckley and Ronald Reagan.
In a Hollywood environment that often lacks common sense, Costner’s perspective serves as a refreshing reminder of practicality and traditional values.
