RIP Charlton Heston

[scaeagles]

Originally Posted by Gemini Cricket

I agreed with Moore that Heston's attendance at the NRA meeting shortly after Columbine was heartless. He was asked to stay away by the mayor and still showed up. While Heston was a adequate actor, actions like that made him seem like quite a buffoon.

Why? I've never understood that. The NRA had absolutely nothing to do with Columbine and staying away based on that would in some way admit some form of culpability on behlaf of the NRA and legal gun owners. Unless I am remembering incorrectly, the weapons were acquired illegally.

I suppose this isn't really the place to rehash that kind of stuff....or maybe it is. There are arguments that a well trained armed teacher could have stopped much of the bloodshed. I suppose I've continued the opening of the pandora's box of the subject.....

[Nephythys]

Originally Posted by LSPoorEeyorick

No, no, no, no, no. Sometimes I have a dry sense of humor, is all. I didn't agree with him on a lot of things, but I was just quoting Ben Hur and making a joke of it.

Okies-

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

Why? I've never understood that. The NRA had absolutely nothing to do with Columbine and staying away based on that would in some way admit some form of culpability on behlaf of the NRA and legal gun owners. Unless I am remembering incorrectly, the weapons were acquired illegally.

I suppose this isn't really the place to rehash that kind of stuff....or maybe it is. There are arguments that a well trained armed teacher could have stopped much of the bloodshed. I suppose I've continued the opening of the pandora's box of the subject.....

Wow, I knew our politics differed, L, but... armed teachers? Yikes.

No, the NRA had nothing to do with Columbine. So why did they stage the pro-gun rally there in the first place? Purposefully after children died at gunpoint? Families were grieving. It was as timely and considerate as Phelps and his protesters at funerals. People like guns and want to own them - I get it. But was that really and truly appropriate? Respectful? Not in my opinion.

[Alex]

The convention was planned long before the Columbine shootings (unless you're talking about something else I don't remember). It wasn't something they decided to do in response. It was the national convention of the National Rifle Association and was probably scheduled a couple years in advance.

And they did significantly scale the convention back. They took down all billboard advertising, and trimmed the convention from three days to one.

[CoasterMatt]

Why shouldn't teachers be armed? Or at least somebody on campus? It's not like the thugs are gonna go "Yo, that's a school, we can't shoot anybody at school".

[Strangler Lewis]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

There are arguments that a well trained armed teacher could have stopped much of the bloodshed. I suppose I've continued the opening of the pandora's box of the subject.....

This is the same argument you deplore when phrased as reducing the speed limit to unworkable limits to save 36,000 lives a year or its equivalent in the global warming context.

A world where "well trained armed teachers" exist is a world where everyone is armed and the police beat everyone with sticks every block or so to keep them in line. We don't want to live in a five mph world, and we don't want to live in this world either.

[Gemini Cricket]

Heston's speech at the meeting mocks the mayor's request. Planned in advance or not, it was poor form. It could have been postponed.
Heston's speech

[Alex]

Where is the mayor's request mocked in that? He explains why the mayor's request isn't granted, but I see no mockery.

And he's right, for the NRA to cancel their event because of Columbine would have been to implicitly endorse the idea that the NRA was somehow entwined with Columbine.

I've said in other threads that I don't really support the idea of a right to bear arms (I agree one exists in our constitution but would have no issue with its approval). But I see no reason why the NRA convention should have been canceled because of Columbine. Any more than it should have been because of any of the other gun-related crimes that occurred in Denver in the weeks leading up to that convention.

[Sub la Goon]

I liked The Naked Jungle.

Even though no one got naked.

[Gemini Cricket]

Originally Posted by Alex

Where is the mayor's request mocked in that? He explains why the mayor's request isn't granted, but I see no mockery.

And he's right, for the NRA to cancel their event because of Columbine would have been to implicitly endorse the idea that the NRA was somehow entwined with Columbine.
...

Okay, I'll bite, let's be pedantic about one word.

It's mockery to me.

He could postpone the meeting without seeming to cater to the wills of someone he disagrees with. It's done all the time. Postponing is not giving in.

And Columbine was not just any crime. It was a huge deal. Maybe not to some but to a majority of the country.