Clint Eastwood was in town Wednesday for two reasons. First, he was to serve as the official ribbon cutter for the new Warner Bros. Theater situated inside the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Second, he was to receive the Smithsonian's Bicentennial Medal for his storied film career. But really, when he took the podium to accept his award from Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., he just wanted to talk about guns.
"We both like shooting, target shooting, not shooting anything else, just targets, and he is an excellent shot by the way," Eastwood said of Leahy. "He is also a big advocate of gun safety, as I learned last night." The pair had apparently dined and gone target shooting Tuesday night, though Leahy, a noted movie buff, wouldn't divulge anymore details besides saying that they had some "great conversation" and that he was a big fan of the gun-heavy movie "Gran Torino."
Eastwood went on to talk about his own views on guns.
"I am a grand believer in the safety of firearms, and I'll leave you with this story," the actor and director said. Eastwood told the tale of a middle aged woman being stopped in her car by a police officer. The cop notices that she has a concealed weapons permit and asks her if she has a gun. She does--locked in the glove compartment there's a 59 automatic Smith & Wesson gun. "'oh, great, anything else?'" Eastwood says the officer asked. The answer? Yes — in the console a .357 revolver and two boxes of ammunition. Anything else? Again, yes, in the woman's purse there was a 40 caliber Glock automatic and two extra clips.
"And he says, 'my God woman, what are you afraid of?' and she says, 'freakin' nothing,'" Eastwood smirked. "That sort of sums up my gun control."
