America's foremost gun lobby, the National Rifle Association, has reached out to "Moses" to restore its waning appeal. The election of Charlton Heston as the new president of the NRA has called forth a spate of Moses jokes. He played Moses in Cecil B de Mille's Ten Commandments and won an Oscar as best actor in Ben Hur. He also starred in Planet of the Apes.
"We've been demonised by the media to a certain extent. I think this is a way of saying, `Hey, Moses is on our side,"' said Mr Wayne LaPierre who has been elected a vice-president.
Heston, who says he owns "say a dozen guns", has pledged to restore the image of the NRA as its membership has dropped by 600,000 in three years and the string of school killings has provoked calls for more control of guns.
Heston (73) also says that the NRA has been demonised. "I think I can take the horns off; by talking; shooting my mouth off. That's what I do for a living after all."
Heston's election is seen as an attempt to move the 3.4 million strong NRA back from the hardline position taken by his predecessor who opposed all gun control measures. After the assassination of Robert Kennedy in 1968, Heston joined some other Hollywood actors to support federal restrictions on mail-order gun sales. He has recently come out against the use of high-powered AK-47 automatic rifles for private use.
He has now changed his position on federal restrictions on guns, insisting that Americans have a constitutional right to bear arms. "Those wise old dead white guys who invented this country knew what they were talking about," he says, referring to the Founding Fathers.
Heston also lashed out at President Clinton at the NRA conference in Philadelphia. "Mr Clinton, America didn't trust you with our health care system. America didn't trust you with gays in the military, America doesn't trust you with our 21-year-old daughters. And we sure, Lord, don't trust you with our guns."
A White House spokesman retorted that "By promoting statements like that, the NRA will stay out of the political mainstream in this country."