Keefe: Currently you and Tom Selleck are among the most famous shooters in Hollywood. Despite your success on “Criminal Minds” and his success on “Blue Bloods,” do you think it’s been harder for you guys to succeed in Hollywood because of your beliefs?

Mantegna: I think if we both looked at our careers it would be funny for us to say, “Oh yeah, we really suffered.” I mean we’re both doing fairly well. I think that’s why it’s important for us to be vocal about how we feel. Perhaps others have, and maybe stating my feelings helps the next generation.

What’s ironic and funny is, if you take the landscape of show business—especially dramatic programming—it seems like 90 percent of it deals with firearms anyway. On all of these shows, the procedural shows, everybody’s got a gun. But yet you’ll hear comments like, “Well, you know we feel this way about firearms.” Wait a minute, you can’t talk out of both sides of your mouth; you can’t use guns as a symbol of what you’re basically trying to sell, yet on the other hand be critical of them. If you make the choice, “Look, I just don’t want to own one, I don’t like shooting them,” that’s your choice, and that’s fine. That’s why we live in the country we do. We have a Second Amendment and a First Amendment. So it’s the same, it’s a freedom, not a requirement.

Keefe: Joe, you’re in town filming for “Gun Stories,” which is slated to debut in the third quarter, on the Outdoor Channel. Tell me about the show.

Mantegna: Well, we’ll be covering the historical significance of certain firearms. In the initial season, we’ve picked 12 firearms that have their own definitive place in the history of firearms. We basically tell the story of each, trace its history and get into every aspect of it: why it’s had such significance, what were its origins, what’s its place in the world, where is it today, where is it going and whether it’s still around. The title is right, “Gun Stories.” It’s the story of that particular firearm, each episode, and it’s being done thoroughly in an interesting, provocative kind of way. This is our first season, and if it goes well we’ll expand. As we go along, we’re even getting more ideas. But it’s great, because I think what’s important, too, is that we’re wanting to break the stereotype—not even the stereotype—but sometimes the mythical feeling people who have never been exposed positively to firearms have. The very word “gun” is a hot button word.

It’s wrong to be afraid of a word, and the only way to overcome the fear of the word is through understanding. Of course, a gun should be respected as it has a certain innate power as a tool, as would a chainsaw or a car or anything else. But to overcome the inerrant fear of the word, you have to understand it, and that’s why education is so important.

It all comes out of education and understanding. At the end of the day, form your own opinion. When it’s all said and done you say, “I still don’t like to do it, but I respect your right to it.” That’s all any of us are asking for. Just understand it and make your decision.

Keefe: What’s your favorite gun?

Mantegna: I guess we’d have to break it down into categories. For a handgun? No question. It would be the M1911. That wasn’t the very first handgun I shot, but it was the one I ultimately used competitively. I just enjoy the caliber, I’ve shot pretty much every handgun caliber you can think of, and the .45 ACP is perfect. It has mass, the recoil is a little more, you get a lot of push, but you don’t get a lot of torque. And it’s just the aesthetics of it—it’s old school—it’s what I carry on “Criminal Minds.” I made that choice as I thought this guy would be old-school and this would be the firearm he would carry. The M1911 is classic. I think it’s the first one we’re doing in our series “Gun Stories.”

If I’m going to get into shotguns, I really love over-unders. Being Italian, I’m partial to the Italians. I own a few Berettas, but I aspire to own others, other things that end in a vowel—Perazzi comes to mind. There’s nothing like a beautifully made shotgun. My first shotgun was a Remington Model 1100, which is a classic, of course, but nothing can beat a beautifully made over-under. I have a few different gauges, some Rugers and some other brands, but I’ve mostly been shooting Beretta.

In rifles, I like the old cowboy stuff—I mean Model 1894s and other lever-actions, .30-30s—even those that shoot pistol calibers like .357 and .44 Magnum. I have a Marlin 1894C. I enjoy that as well.

But again, that’s the thing about firearms; it’s kind of like wine or cigars. There’s such a diverse variety of the things you can get as involved in as much as you like or not. I used to do a lot of reloading, and even that, that’s a whole other thing, a whole other aspect of it. It’s interesting.