By Katie Foutz
Guns were the battle cry at a June 2 fundraising dinner that featured Charlton Heston and Karl Malone.
The actor/third-term President of the National Rifle Association joined with the Jazz superstar at the Salt Lake Marriott for what Rep. Jim Hansen called “the best fundraiser we’ve ever done.”
They were joined by 1,000 Utah supporters who paid $125 a plate to attend the event.
“The mother’s milk of this business is money. I wish it wasn’t,” said Hansen.
Heston, who three weeks ago challenged Al Gore to take a gun “from my cold dead hands,” called the upcoming national election “the most important since the Civil War.”
In reference to the “Safe to Learn, Safe to Worship” initiative that failed in Utah this week, he said, “I think the position of the American people on the Second Amendment has been adequately established.”
Hansen agreed.
“I don’t know of an instance where a concealed weapon’s holder has really found himself in a position of doing anything wrong, because most of these are pretty good guys that have to pass a test themselves,” he said.
In reference to a shooting that once took place at the Capitol, he said, “I’d like to have a 357 pistol in my desk. I don’t know if I’d want to throw a paper clip at the guy,” he said.
Washington, D.C. has the strictest gun-control laws in the nation, he said.
“And where’s the greatest crime rate in America? Strangely enough, it’s right in Washington, D.C.,” he said.
Malone also vocalized a strong pro-gun position.
“When you believe in things that push the envelope, people don’t like that. We’ve got a lot of churchgoing people here, so I won’t say what I’d like to do to those people,” he said.
“You can pass all the laws you want to pass. You’re not going to get my guns,” he said.
