- TUCSON (CBS) -- The National
Rifle Association and its high-profile leader Charlton Heston went ahead
with a rally here Wednesday, two days after a flunking student who collected
guns shot three professors to death before killing himself.
-
- An estimated 700 people attended the rally at the Tucson
Convention Center, about four miles from the University of Arizona's nursing
school, where Monday's shootings took place.
-
- NRA Chief Executive Officer Wayne LaPierre defended the
get-out-the-vote event for Arizona Republican candidates, saying it had
long been planned and that there was no connection between the gunman's
actions and what the NRA stands for.
-
- "I honestly think that if a madman had driven a
car into a crowd and if there was a car convention scheduled, they wouldn't
cancel the convention," LaPierre said.
-
- Republican gubernatorial candidate Matt Salmon was scheduled
to appear at the event but did not attend. NRA officials said Salmon, who
is in a close race with Democrat Janet Napolitano, canceled all Tucson
appearances out of respect for the shooting victims.
-
- Republican attorney general candidate Andrew Thomas said
he believed the event could deliver a positive message.
-
- "This rally is about self-defense against violent
predators such as the murderer who killed three innocent professors,"
Thomas said.
-
- Heston, the actor who recently announced he has symptoms
consistent with Alzheimer's disease, addressed the crowd briefly, made
no reference to the shootings and did not refer to the candidates by name.
-
-
- "Who you're voting for is not about this man or
woman," Heston said. "It's about freedom."
-
- A few dozen people protested outside.
-
- "We're here to tell Charlton Heston to go the hell
home," said Sean Hammond, 31, of Tucson. "We just had the worst
shooting in the history of Tucson just two days ago."
-
- Tucson resident Mike Middono, 41, who attended the rally,
disagreed.
-
- "That tragedy would not have happened if more people
had guns," he said.
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- http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/28/national/main527187.shtml
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