When the NRA was founded, there was an official report that showed that one out of every 1,000 shots fired by Union soldiers struck a Confederate soldier during the Civil War.
When universal background checks soared to 91 percent in 2013 after the Sandy Hook killings, the NRA was blocking legislation.
The motion picture The Ten Commandments featured four important actors in important roles. There were Charlton Heston, Yul Brenner, Edward G. Robinson (Dathan in the movie), and John Derek. Let’s take a quick look at each.
Yul Brenner went on to be the king in the King and I. Edward G. Robinson’s character was particularly disturbing to me, but I soon found out that he was Jewish and had appeared on the Yiddish stage. John Derek, a very handsome dude, played Joshua and then went on to a brief performance in Exodus where he played an Arab (Taha) who tipped off his life-long friend of a murderous assault against the Jews that was going to happen (Throw the Jews into a sea of blood). He met his fate in the movie rather quickly for his betrayal, killed by ex-Nazis working for the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. His body was carved with the Star of David and nearby village walls had a swastika and Jude (Jew in German) painted on them. But Derek ended up with a ten in life as he married Bo Derek, known for her iconic beauty. Charlton Heston ended up being the subject of this article about the NRA.
We should contemplate how the NRA has used Hollywood to grow and not just focus on the liberals in Hollywood. What was the “Heston Effect” in the NRA’s growth and power when Heston became the president of the NRA? I know that “The Fonz” caused a 500 percent increase in library cards that Henry Winkler has been very proud of. Heston, it has been reported, suffered from alcoholism and Alzheimer’s leading up to his death. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in the final year of his five-term presidency of that powerful organization. Remember that Moses commanded a powerful presence in the minds of people and Heston was Moses. Heston was Hollywood and the NRA used Heston. In my research I did find that NRA membership more than tripled from the race riots to the election of Ronald Reagan (1.9 million members). The membership around 1991 was around 2.3 million caused by a decline of 700,000 and by the time of Heston’s exit as president the membership had surpassed 4 million and it brought in lots more conservative admirers.
Charlton Heston supported civil rights, Democrats, and even gun control in his early career, but moved away to become a conservative. He was even upset that his movie Ben Her played in Oklahoma before a segregated audience, but he did not mention that fact later in his autobiography when providing details about his joining demonstrations in Oklahoma. After Robert Kennedy’s assassination, Heston joined Gregory Peck, Kirk Douglas, and James “Jimmy” Stewart in supporting gun control.
Heston was converted to Republican conservative by people like Ronald Reagan and reading Barry Goldwater’s book In Your Heart You Know He’s Right.
In 2002 Michael Moore’s film Bowling for Columbine came out where he had interviewed Heston on camera and Heston said that the United States probably has more violence than any other country because of having mixed ethnic groups and a history of violence. Moore’s interview was called an “ambush” of Heston especially since Heston was diagnosed with Alzheimers, but the interview had taken place before Heston’s diagnosis.
Heston now committed himself to “Fighting the Culture War” which was taking place in America and he began to support White people openly, being disturbed about various things including the way parts were given out in Miss Saigon, the anti-Cop lyrics of Ice T, and CNN telecasts about the Gulf War that were creating doubts about the U.S. war there. African-Americans, Hispanics, Jews, and others have their own organizations that may seem unnecessary to others, but there are good reasons to have Hispanic Chambers of Commerce and organizations to fight racism and anti-Semitism. They are the weapons, peaceful ones, that are needed to keep things in check. And we have certainly survived everything that Heston resented, even if history tends to repeat itself.
In 1999 Charlton Heston was with Mayor Ed Rendell and Senators Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum in Philadelphia promoting “Project Exile” which was strict gun enforcement designed to remove felons from the streets of Philadelphia. Richmond, Virginia was the model for this program. Richmond saw a huge decline in murders and it was the time to expand the program for the NRA president. By 2002 the NRA was critical of Ed Rendell as he campaigned to be governor of Pennsylvania. At that time Rendell wanted a law that would limit guns, only one purchase a month was the proposal at that time.
Then there was the “From My Cold Dead Hands” speech that Heston made. Moses raises the ten commandments in that speech. That scene in the Ten Commandments when Moses destroys the tablets because his people built a golden calf to pray to makes me think about how wrong the gun people are. I mean Heston raises the Second Amendment with a musket over his head to Americans. Those are such clever words uttered without a solution and his message continues that people are out to destroy the Second Amendment. Even the survivors of the Douglas High School shooting that I have seen say that they do not want to destroy that amendment, but they want to control access to weapons. That has turned a corner and perhaps the fight will continue in the courts for judges to decide. The NRA shifted the discussion of guns in the 1970s and now our nation’s youth are moving the discussion in another direction. More and more it looks like those youth have the upper hand and I hope so.
By 2007 “Project Exile” was abandoned due rising homicides and being “unconstitutional.” The murder rate has continued to go up in Richmond, Virginia and it seems that people really do not know what to do about it. Even in 2016 there was a surge in murder in Richmond, Virginia.
The murder rate has continued to go up in Richmond, Virginia and it seems that people really do not know what to do about it. Gun control may be the solution to the problem.
Last year Attorney General Jeff Sessions spoke about bringing back “Project Exile.” It is quite clear that people in our nation consider the Second Amendment more important than the First Amendment. Heston spoke about it and believed just that. The danger with that is people will wish to tear up the entire Constitution, which could happen soon.
Charlton Heston was asked by Michael Moore if he has loaded guns in his house and Heston replied yes to feel safe, but he later changed that tune by saying that he has not been victimized and he is not really afraid. That is when he invoked his Second Amendment right to own guns and keep them loaded. Keep in mind what I have already revealed in the Jewish Business News and that is only three percent of 900,000 people in Jerusalem carry guns, making it one of the safest cities in the world. This was never addressed in the interview with Charlton Heston.
