Have Gun, Will Travel

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Heston's election as president of the N.R.A. comes at a critical juncture. Long one of the most powerful players in U.S. politics, the group has been weakened by vicious internal power struggles. Although it still has the means to pour millions of dollars into federal and state elections, its aura of invincibility evaporated with the 1993 passage of the Brady Bill, requiring a five-day waiting period to purchase handguns, and, later, a Clinton-backed ban on manufacturing and importing assault weapons. Law-enforcement officers, once allies, defected in droves after the N.R.A. defended so-called cop-killer bullets and its executive vice president, Wayne LaPierre, called federal agents "jack-booted government thugs." The N.R.A.'s hard-line stances have contributed to a drop in membership from 3.5 million in 1995 to 2.8 million today. As Heston told the N.R.A. convention last month, "Too many gun owners think we've wandered to some fringe of American life and left them behind."

LaPierre, who orchestrated the actor's election to the part-time, unpaid post, claims the N.R.A. has been "demonized by the national media." He adds with glee, "Now Moses is here to set the record straight." Heston's heroic image, burnished by such films as The Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur, is already paying off in free airtime. "The day I became president, I don't think I held the gavel 10 minutes," he boasts. "I did 29 media interviews that day." Heston plans to leave the policy setting to LaPierre and focus on salesmanship. "I've been doing interviews for 50 years," he says. "I know how to sell a movie or a book. Now I'm selling the reputation of the N.R.A." Political access is another asset. "If I'm perhaps an iconic figure, it helps me get in to see a Senator. They say, 'I'll be glad to see you, Chuck. And, by the way, could you have your picture taken with my staff?'"

But if anyone thinks Heston is out to soften the gun lobby's image, take note: "hard" is still what he does best. Addressing 41,000 N.R.A. conventioneers last month, the new president thundered at Clinton in his magnificent basso profundo: "America didn't trust you with their 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 few days later, Clinton aide Rahm Emanuel chided the actor for "personal insults," given that Clinton had made gracious remarks about Heston at a recent Kennedy Center Honors ceremony and received him at the White House. Chastened, Heston told TIME, "I don't think I should have used quite such harsh language about the President."