The National Rifle Association took the opportunity of the 91st Academy Awards to issue a message Sunday to all those “hypocritical and ideologically extreme” celebrities from “a real Hollywood hero,” Charlton Heston, the former president of the gun rights organization.
Mixing historic footage of Heston discussing the crucial nature of the Second Amendment with footage of prominent voices of the Left — including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, director Michael Moore, and actress Ashley Judd — the video seeks to highlight “today’s hypocritical and ideologically extreme celebrities, socialist politicians, activists, athletes, the media,” the NRA explained in a press release.
“Imagine if every kid had learned what we learned — that without a Second Amendment, by what means could a free people expect to protect freedom?” says Heston. “We learned that, history proves it, common sense confirms it, and any school kid can grasp it. Only people who are free to own firearms can remain free people.”
Video and transcript below via NRA TV:
Transcript:
Something’s gone wrong, for all our vigilance and battle scars over the Bill of Rights, have we let the flame of freedom’s torch grow cold? Because there can be no torch to pass where there’s no flame.
“A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” The Second Amendment.
Politicians legislate against it, media ridicule it, movies pervert it…
So it’s not unreasonable that with one lost generation, we could lose the Second Amendment forever. Because we didn’t teach them what the battle’s all about. We didn’t strike that spark in their hearts that lights the fire for freedom. So why does that belief burn so brightly in you and me?
Imagine if every kid had learned what we learned — that without a Second Amendment, by what means could a free people expect to protect freedom? We learned that, history proves it, common sense confirms it, and any school kid can grasp it. Only people who are free to own firearms can remain free people.
The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. That is the passion we must ignite in those who follow. All of us who feel that surge of pride, who chill at the genuine glory of a free people able to protect their own freedom.
If we focus on anti-gun legislation but ignore an anti-gun generation … if we spend years as pro-gun activists, but only minutes as pro-gun mentors … if we’ve earned the support of this generation of office holders but not the next generation of voters … we will have failed.
Every one of us born beneath this blessed American sky has rights no one can take away. Because no one gave them to us. They were ours from the beginning.
If you consider yourself a freedom-loving patriot, you can’t shirk your duty to teach America’s young to understand the Second Amendment. To revere it … to embrace it … to defend it … and in their turn, to bequeath it.
That’s what we have to do. We … the teachers, the neighbors, the clergy, the uncles, the grocers, the legislators, the scoutmasters, the parents … the Americans.
Only then can we pass the torch with that sacred flame that lights the American way.