Eastwood's position on this topic has been fairly consistent throughout his career. Besides offering support for various legislative measures intended to prevent guns from being sold to felons and emotionally disturbed people, he has insisted that gun control, by itself, is not a solution to the problem of gun violence. Instead, he has spoken out strongly in favor of more vigorous prosecution of crimes committed with guns.
He said in a 1977 interview:
Quote
The politicians have not caught up to the mood of the public as far as criminal justice is concerned. I think there should be a mandatory sentence for crimes committed with handguns. The law isn't tough enough. My name has been on some of those lists against gun control, but it's been done without my permission. People in those groups don't support prosecution hard enough. There's no way to outlaw handguns, because our society is so inundated with them it would be impossible to stop criminals from getting them. But there shouldn't be any plea bargaining for crimes with handguns. Maybe it's too simple—maybe it's too conservative, too cut and dried—but it works in other countries.
(Interview with Joseph McBride, published in Bijou, v. 1, no. 1, April 1977)
http://www.clinteastwood.org/forums/index.php?topic=1305.10;wap2
