Charlton Heston’s chillingly prophetic speech – From My Cold Dead Hands
Charlton Heston, the former actor and president of the National Rifle Association, gave a prophetic speech in 2000 in defense of the Second Amendment. He ended that speech with his now famous phrase, “From my cold dead hands!”
Truer words could not be spoken any clearer!
During the height of the 2000 election season, Heston delivered a rousing speech at the NRA Convention in which he closed by invoking an old Second Amendment battle cry as he raised a vintage 1874 buffalo rifle over his head: “So, as we set out this year to defeat the divisive forces that would take freedom away, I want to say those fighting words for everyone within the sound of my voice to hear and to heed, and especially for you, (presidential candidate) Mr. (Al) Gore: ‘From my cold, dead hands.’”
The “cold, dead hands” saying did not originate with Heston. It had been around since the 1970s, when it was used as a slogan for literature and bumper stickers by gun rights activists. The slogan didn’t even originate with the NRA; it was first used by the Washington-based Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
But Heston’s usage of those five words in 2000 made them iconic. Gun owners across the nation began using the slogan as a rallying cry, saying, “You can have my guns when you take them from my cold, dead hands.” Heston is often incorrectly attributed with coining the phrase. When he resigned from the NRA presidency in 2003 due to his declining health, he again raised the rifle over his head and repeated, “From my cold, dead hands.”
