Moses (Heston's NRA) Backslides! ....is this the new NRA??? "A no-compromise Gun Lobby for the Nation!"

Forwarded to you as I received it.  

Chris Knox

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The following transcript is verbatim, without alteration, and

includes misspellings.
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    DATE    May 6, 1997
    TIME    8:00 - 9:00 AM (PT)
 STATION    KGO-AM  (ABC)
LOCATION    San Francisco
 PROGRAM    Morning Drive Time



Ted Wygant, anchor:

Well this is very appropriate to talk with Moses as we talk

about it, at least.

Now let's say good morning to the man who played it so well,

Charleton Heston. Good morning, sir!

Charleton Heston (Actor/NRA Board Member): And good   
morning to you, Mister Wygant.

Wygant:  Well, we're delighted to have you with us, and 
we appreciate your time because you have taken on a   
task that I think a lot of folks might have backed    
away with because a lot of concern about the National 
Rifle Association.

Heston:  Our country belongs to Hercules, doesn't it?

Wygant:  Yeah, right.  What made you do it?  How come 
you want to get in the middle of this?

Heston:  Well, I've, of course, been- found myself in 
the arena, if you will, on a number of public sector  
causes.  I suppose starting back when I started       
demonstrating for civil rights back in 1961.  Long    
before it got fashionable in Hollywood.  And then the 
Screen Actors Guild, and the National Endowment For The 
Arts, and the Separate Theater Group, and so on- and  
then the Presidential Task force, and the Arts and    
Humanities.  And I've been a member of- of the National 
Rifle Association for, oh, twenty years or more.  When 
I was a kid in Michigan, in the Depression, I lived in 
a little hamlet in Northern Michigan with about, oh,  
a hundred houses which contained easily two hundred and 
fifty, three hundred fire arms of various kinds.      
Mostly being used for hunting, of course- food for the 
table.  But I was asked, as is true with all of the   
jobs I've done.  Somebody asked me.

Wygant:  Well, you've got quite a task.  And- and
you've been named first vice president.  You- you're a
member of the board at-at one point, and gee, you just
zipped right up.

Heston:  I just was elected to the board on Saturday.

Wygant:  Yeah.

Heston:  It's the primary defender of the second
amendment of the Bill Of Rights, which is, of course, 
a core document.  The Bill Of Rights is right at the
basis of the American idea, those wise old dead white
guys that made up the country knew what they were
about.  And you- it is a mainstream issue.  Most
Americans, in fact, support the second amendment's
right to bear and carry arms, and there are, as you
suggest, a few extremists, and some of them are- are on
the board.  And we have, however, we- they elected- or
re-elected in the case of Wayne LaPierre, and elected
in my case and Cain Robinson's case- police chief Cain
Robinson is now second vice president.  We re-elected
Marion Hammer as president.

Wygant:  Mister Heston, could I ask you to stand by
here for just a moment?  We have to get to traffic, but
I- I do want to continue talking with you.  Could you
hang in for a minute?         

Heston:  Yeah.

Wygant:  Okay, good.  Thanks.

        ****************

Wygant:  Okay, right now let's get back to Charleton
Heston talking to us from his home in Southern        
California.  Let me ask you, you mentioned that there
are some right wing folks- far right wing, still around
the NRA.  Are you going to try to get them off the
board and out of the picture?

Heston:  That- that's certainly the intention, and I
think it's highly doable.  Wayne LaPierre is- is a
superb leader, Marion Hammer's a strong president. 
And I think Cain Robinson and I can provide some useful
support there.

Wygant:  Now the image of- of the NRA has been an
organization that supports the right of people to buy
any legal firearms, and, of course, you go to any- any
gun store- gun shop and you see things there that are
big, and brutal, and deadly, and far more than you need
for- for hunting or home protection.  Do you stand by-
I mean, the image is...

Heston:  AK-47's are inappropriate for private        
ownership, of course.

Wygant:  Yeah, but the image is that they're- the fire
power of these weapons is far more than a hunter or a
homeowner would need.  Why is it necessary to have
those guns available anyway?

Heston:  I just got through telling you.  The         
possession- private possession of AK-47's is entirely
inappropriate.

Wygant:  Right, but AK-47's one thing, but I've been in
a gun shop- I've been in gun shops, and there's fire
power there that doest's seem necessary and that people
worry about being out there in- in the hands of, you
know, potential criminals.

Heston:  I'm not certain what you're point is- that
there are guns available in gun stores?

Wygant:  No, guns that go beyond what a hunter would
need.  In other words, why does the NRA support guns
that have overkill?  Let's put it that way.  Shouldn't
there be some sort of limit?

Heston:  Well, for any certain time, AK-47"s are
entirely inappropriate for private ownership, and the-
the problem, of course, is not guns held by private
citizens, but guns held by criminals.  And where we
have failed, where the government has failed is with
entirely cosmetic actions like the Brady Bill, which is
meaningless.  I'm not even- don't even think it should
be repealed because it doesn't do anything.  and it's
been in- on the books for more than two years.  In the
course of that time, I think it is, nineteen people
have been arrested, and two have been imprisoned felons
with felony records for trying to purchase a firearm.

Wygant:  Well, we've- we gotta- I really appreciate
talking with us.  It'll be interesting to see-        
interesting to see how you handle the public image of
the National Rifle Association and those in the far  
right in the group.  And if you don't mind, we'd like
to talk to you again.

Heston:  I hope we can do that.
Wygant:  Alright, thanks very much.

Heston:  Mister Wygant.

Wygant:  Thank you.  Charleton Heston from his home in
Southern California, and the KGO Radio News time is
8:23.