http://townhall.com/columnists/miche...nst_gun_owners

Michelle Malkin

The Witch Hunt Against Gun Owners

Editor's Note: Michelle Malkin is on vacation. The following column was originally published in March 2007.

"The Second Amendment," Charlton Heston used to say, "is America's first freedom." The Second secures the rest.

It's a message narcissistic journalists need to hear again. A decade ago, Heston chastised the media in a National Press Club speech for its collective ignorance, apathy and open hostility toward gun owners' rights:

"Clearly, too many have used freedom of the press as a weapon not only to strangle our free speech, but to erode and ultimately destroy the right to keep and bear arms, as well.
In doing so, you promoted your profession to that of constitutional judge and jury, more powerful even than our Supreme Court, more prejudiced than the Inquisition's tribunals. It is a frightening misuse of constitutional privilege, and I pray that you will come to your senses and see that these abuses are curbed."

You can still read the entire story here:

http://townhall.com/columnists/miche...nst_gun_owners