Brad Pitt "doesn't feel safe" without a gun.
The 'Killing Them Softly' actor is protective of his fiancee Angelina Jolie, and the children they raise - Maddox, 11, Pax, nine, Zahara, seven, Shiloh, six, and four-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne - and feels owning a weapon is "in his DNA" as an American.
He told the Daily Mail's Live magazine: "America is a country founded on guns. It's in our DNA. It's very strange but I feel better having a gun. I really do. I don't feel safe, I don't feel the house is completely safe, if I don't have one hidden somewhere.
"That's my thinking, right or wrong."
Brad, 48, points out how he was exposed to guns from an early age but still turned out to be a responsible adult.
He added: "I got my first BB gun when I was in nursery school. I got my first shotgun by first grade [six years old], I had shot a handgun by third grade [eight] and I grew up in a pretty sane environment."
While Brad and Angelina have very busy acting schedules, filming in locations around the world, they always take their family with them, and make a point of always eating breakfast together, no matter how hard they are working.
Brad explained: "Right now, Mama [Angelina] is working but the day always starts with breakfast, all of us together.
"It's chaos and a joy. When they are young like this, it's special, and I'm very aware they'll be grown up before we know it. I see it already and I'm clinging on with my nails."