Veteran actor Kevin Costner shared an unlikely pro-gun story while accepting the T. Boone Pickens Lifetime Sportsman Award in Dallas.

The “Yellowstone” star shared a story about how his grandmother had given him his first gun when he was five-years-old. “They lost everything in the Dust Bowl when the banks closed their doors,” Costner said of his grandmother's upbringing. “But before that gun could pass into my hands, my mother had it in hers, and she said, ‘Absolutely not,'” he continued. “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.”

In something that would be unheard of today, Costner went on to recount how he loved his second gun so much that he would take it to school with him. “I remember taking it to sharing day in kindergarten. I carried it to school — nobody walked kids to school back then. I just drug it through the neighborhood,” he said.

“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,” Costner continued.

Despite starring in some films and television shows popular with conservatives, the actor has long supported left-wing causes throughout his career. When he did opt to campaign for a “Republican,” he did so for Rep. Liz Cheney for Wyoming's at-large Congressional race in 2022. The anti-Trump, January 6 conspiracy theorist was ultimately defeated by more than 50 points by Harriet Hageman.

He has also expressed support for gun control policies in the past.