We must change the law or we must change the people who make the laws. While those at the gun control rally observed a moment of silence at 10 a.m., NRA members lined up, attempting to get into a packed ballroom to hear Heston and others speak. The Adam's Mark Hotel stepped up security considerably for the meeting, with police and hotel workers checking NRA membership cards, media credentials or hotel keys of everyone who wanted to enter the hotel. I don't know anyone who's ever done anything improper with a firearm. Both took jabs at Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, who asked the NRA abandon its Denver plans after the Columbine shooting.
Irresponsible sex is a new-age hate crime.
And, like the gun-control activists, Heston talked some politics. As Heston spoke, the rally from the Capitol slowly circled the hotel block. Before the Columbine shootings, liberalizing gun laws in Colorado had been the most heated topic of debate during the legislative session set to end Wednesday. And though the debate was shelved after Columbine, it is certain to resurface in the next year and during the 2000 election campaign. I hope the political momentum on this means next year we are debating bills limiting access to guns instead of increasing it.