'Cold, dead hands': A promise, not a slogan
Oct 20, 2009 4:51:52 GMT -5
Post by avordvet on Oct 20, 2009 4:51:52 GMT -5
'Cold, dead hands': A promise, not a slogan
October 19, 3:45 PM, St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner Kurt Hofmann
When Charlton Heston held up a replica Revolutionary War musket, and said "From my cold, dead hands," at the NRA Convention in 2000, he was not the first to use those words in that context, but his use is certainly the most famous. It was a powerful speech that Heston gave, delivered with both the solemnity and the fire one would expect from one of the few actors capable of pulling off the role of Moses.
I have little doubt that Heston meant every word of it. By then, he had been a staunch defender of civil rights for at least 40 years, having marched with Martin Luther King in 1963, and participated in demonstrations for desegregation earlier than that. No civil right is more vital than the right to self-defense, or the means of resisting tyranny, and Heston left little room for doubt about the depth of his commitment to those rights.
Much has changed since that speech, including the now much more politically correct NRA. Can anyone imagine the top of the NRA hierarchy now promising to fight to the death against any attempt to disarm the citizenry? How could they? With a mantra of "enforce the laws on the books" what happens when a law calling for confiscation of some type of firearm goes "on the books"? No--today's NRA is much too concerned with appearing "reasonable" to say anything so confrontational (although they're not averse to making a buck from it).
Read the Rest: www.examiner.com/x-2581-St-Louis-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m10d19-Cold-dead-hands-A-promise-not-a-slogan
October 19, 3:45 PM, St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner Kurt Hofmann
When Charlton Heston held up a replica Revolutionary War musket, and said "From my cold, dead hands," at the NRA Convention in 2000, he was not the first to use those words in that context, but his use is certainly the most famous. It was a powerful speech that Heston gave, delivered with both the solemnity and the fire one would expect from one of the few actors capable of pulling off the role of Moses.
I have little doubt that Heston meant every word of it. By then, he had been a staunch defender of civil rights for at least 40 years, having marched with Martin Luther King in 1963, and participated in demonstrations for desegregation earlier than that. No civil right is more vital than the right to self-defense, or the means of resisting tyranny, and Heston left little room for doubt about the depth of his commitment to those rights.
Much has changed since that speech, including the now much more politically correct NRA. Can anyone imagine the top of the NRA hierarchy now promising to fight to the death against any attempt to disarm the citizenry? How could they? With a mantra of "enforce the laws on the books" what happens when a law calling for confiscation of some type of firearm goes "on the books"? No--today's NRA is much too concerned with appearing "reasonable" to say anything so confrontational (although they're not averse to making a buck from it).
Read the Rest: www.examiner.com/x-2581-St-Louis-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m10d19-Cold-dead-hands-A-promise-not-a-slogan