They don't embarrass easily

The Right to Bear Grudges

By Rick Horowitz

You have to look at it from their point of view. After all, if they had let themselves be ordered around by every Tom, Dick and Wellington all these years, where would they be today?

We know where they wouldn't be today: packing their suitcases and heading for Denver. Heading for Denver for the annual meeting of the NRA. Heading for Denver despite the bloodbath in Littleton, just down the road. Heading for Denver despite the perfectly personalized message from Denver's mayor, Wellington Webb.

"We don't want you here."

Too subtle for them? They're going anyhow.

Call the man crazy -- he just didn't see a celebration of weaponry and firepower as the proper way to punctuate a week of children's funerals. And give the gun lovers credit, too -- they had sense enough to downsize the party after the Columbine massacre. One day instead of three. None of the usual big display booths by gun makers and gun dealers. A nice, scaled-back NRA gathering, the leaders announced, out of "profound sympathy and respect" for the grieving families and their friends and neighbors.

A highly insensitive event, instead of a totally appalling one. How kind.

But look at it from their point of view. They have by-laws, after all; if they don't hold an annual meeting every year, they could lose their non-profit status! (It's unlikely the by-laws specify "Denver" and "right this minute," but hey...) Anyway, that's how Charlton Heston and the rest of the high-caliber crowd justified the decision to push ahead, come hell or high body count.

But the by-laws weren't the only reason, no sir. There was this one, too, from a concerned Colorado NRA member: "We have got members from all over the country who have purchased nonrefundable tickets."

Say no more! We certainly wouldn't want to inconvenience members from all over the country, would we? "Profound sympathy and respect" is one thing, but now we're talking money. When you're a powerful organization like the NRA, you have to keep your priorities straight. You can't lose sight of the big picture. Besides, they can always send apology notes to all the people they'll offend.

Meanwhile, they're right, of course. That's the other thing -- you have to admit they're at least partly right.

Not about the nonrefundable tickets, or about showing up where they're clearly not wanted. They're right about the culture. About the way movies and lyrics and TV shows and videos glorify violence and coarsen the daily grind.

There has to be some truth in it: Pump a steady diet of mayhem and murder out there into the atmosphere, and sooner or later some poor lost souls will take the hint, will bundle their frustrations with their fantasies and take matters into their own shaky hands.

And when they finally get just riled enough, just angry enough, to make their move, to settle that score, odds are they'll reach for...

A hammer? A beanbag?

Not bloody likely. They'll reach for a gun.

In the Denver papers last weekend, there was a chart, an accounting of "School-associated violent deaths" since the start of the '95-'96 school year. In nice neat columns, they listed the date, the name and location of the school, the reason (if anyone could figure it out) for the tragedy, the number of victims and the method of killing. For instance:

"Shooting. Shooting. Shooting. Stab/slashing. Shooting. Stab/slashing. Beat/kicking. Shooting. Shooting. Shooting. Shooting. Shooting. Shooting. Shooting. Shooting..."

Do you see a pattern here?

It may be the culture that makes them callous, but more often than not, it's the gun that makes them lethal -- and it's nothing but an NRA fantasy to pretend otherwise. Violence in the land? There's more than enough responsibility to go around.

Say what you want about Hollywood. But when it comes to Columbines past and future, Charlton Heston's old employers hardly get Charlton Heston's current pals off the hook.

Posted 4/27/99. Fresh stuff right here twice weekly!

Search the Web Search Rick's!