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                    Unlikely 'George' Byline
                          By NEAL KNOX
     WASHINGTON, D.C. (Jan. 20) -- When John F. Kennedy Jr.
started publishing "George" -- a slick, ad-packed, upscale,
yuppie, usually liberal but unpredictable new magazine about "Not
Just Politics As Usual" -- I never dreamed that my byline would
ever appear there.
     But take a look at the February issue, where I have a brief
article sounding off about what's wrong with trigger lock laws.
     When George Associate Editor Matt Saal left word that he
wanted to talk to me about trigger locks, back in November, I
assumed it would be a routine interview for an article.  So I put
a couple of pithy one-liners and a few fresh facts on my computer
screen, and called him back for the usual battle to seduce a
reporter into writing something even-handed.
     When he said he wanted me to do the writing, and that he
didn't want it even-handed, I nearly fell out of my chair.  
     I was a bit suspicious -- just as I was when the New York
Daily News called me up about doing a piece on "gun control," and
when National Public Radio asked me to write and present the
essay on the Second Amendment as part of their series on the Bill
of Rights.  
     Matt explained that they wanted me to do a "Rant" column, a
regular feature written by well-known advocates on controversial
topics.  
     "With the gun manufacturers down at the White House
announcing they had made a deal to include trigger locks with
their guns, with Congress talking about a new law, with the
newspapers calling it a 'no-brainer,' yet the people of
Washington State rejecting a trigger lock initiative, it's the
kind of hot topic we want in George," he said.
     Matt said he "asked around about who had strong opinions on
trigger locks and who could write a coherent sentence.  Your name
kept coming up."  
     Flattery always works.  Particularly since George is paying
for the piece -- though I never bothered to ask how much.
      To better understand what they wanted, I bought a December
issue, which had a "Rant" by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. demanding
tougher enforcement of the Clean Water Act.  At least I'd be in
respectable, if unaccustomed, company.
     We gun politics writers usually preach only to the
converted, so this was a rare opportunity to preach to the
heathen.  But I only had 500 words.
     I don't think the published version was the best of the
dozen drafts I attempted, but it seemed to resonate with the
various folks at George.  Let's hope it hits home with their
readers.
     The thrust of my piece is that everyone is in favor of
safety, but gun owners and NRA have spent their monies and
energies to drive fatal firearms accident rates to an all-time
low.   The real objective of the advocates of mandatory trigger
locks is to reduce the huge numbers of successful instances of
personal and family protection with guns.
     I concluded:  "Every time a life is saved with the help of a
personal firearm (as in the case of the assistant principal who
used his own handgun to stop the Pearl, Mississippi, high school
student who was on a killing spree), it becomes more difficult
for the extremists to achieve their goal of a gunless America.
     "Trigger locks may appear to make guns child-safe.  But they
actually make that child's home a safer target for burglars,
rapists and demented predators."
     That ought to set some teeth on edge among George readers. 
But hopefully it will make sense to a lot of them -- who have
never before heard the gospel preached.
     A few days ago I got a call from George's publicity
director.  Would I be willing to do some radio talk shows about
my article, if they could set them up?
     "Why, Yes.  I think I can work that into my schedule."
===========================================================
                  NRA Directorate Purge On
                         By NEAL KNOX
     Washington, D.C. (Feb. 1) -- There is an all-out drive
to purge the NRA Board of its strongest Second Amendment
defenders, and to steer NRA to the "political mainstream."
     If that drive succeeds, your firearms ownership rights are
in grave jeopardy.  For nothing is so critical to your continued
ownership of firearms -- and your grandchildren's ownership of
firearms -- as the future course of NRA.
     On May 6, 1997, the day after being elected as NRA First
Vice President, actor Charlton Heston said on ABC affiliate KGO
Radio it was his intention to put NRA  "Right in the middle of
the mainstream."
     In that same interview he declared  "AK-47's are entirely
inappropriate for private ownership."  Mr. Heston said the same
thing three times in almost identical words, and made it clear he
was referring to "guns available in gun shops."
     Mr. Heston has made some truly beautiful statements on
behalf of the Second Amendment, but in my view it is impossible
to defend the Second Amendment while saying it does not apply to
guns he doesn't like.
     I didn't own an AK-47S until Charles Schumer and George Bush
started saying I shouldn't have one.  
     But according to the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1939 Miller
case, military-style firearms no gun is more protected by the
Second Amendment than an AK-47.
     These elections will determine the course of the NRA  And 
the course of NRA determines the future of your guns rights.
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