Dallas office towers

Music

01.00.00

Jones:  No matter how many glass towers and fountains are built here, Dallas, Texas will always be remembered for one thing.

Archival footage of Kennedy assassination

Radio Announcer:  The President of the United States is dead.

00.20

Man at notice board

Man:  Using the film the Commission determined that the first shot struck the President in the back at this point right here. Then they said the fatal head shot struck the President in the back of the head.

Jones:  The work of a single gunman? No one believes that any more.

Man:  Shots have been fired from all points down the fence like. Behind the tree there, they fired the shots.

Jones:  Today in the State of Texas ordinary citizens can get permits to carry a concealed weapon. So it's safe to assume that any future Presidential motorcade here would be watched by spectators armed to the teeth.

00.46

Gun show

Just across town what looks like the annual Lee Harvey Oswald convention is getting under way.

01.10

Men examining guns

It's not of course.

Without a hint of irony the National Rifle Association chose Dallas  for its hundred and twenty fifth anniversary celebrations.

It's a showcase for every conceivable toy a gun lover could desire.

Man with gun

Man 1:  We just like to play and shoot  You know how us Americans are.

Man with gun

Man 3:  This is the guns that made the twenties roar.

Native American:  I may be steeped young man in native American history but I'm up to date in the latest rifle technology."

01.45

Music

Woman demonstrating gun with handbag

Woman:  You can wear it on your left shoulder -  quick draw if you need to. Put it on your right shoulder. Keep your hand on the gun at all times and that way it's concealed . You feel nervous, shoot right through the end of the bag. Replace it for free for you. That's right.

02.04

Woman:   Oh, really. That's great.

Woman watching target shooting

Jones:  The gun obsession can be overwhelming if you're not prepared for it.

02.28

But don't dispute their right to ownership. That'd be like wearing shoe into a mosque.

Woman interview

Woman:  I'm touring the exhibits and I'm looking for small gun to carry because in Texas we have the right to carry. I already have the purse to carry it in.

02.40

Man demonstrating laser gun to Jones

Man:  This is a Taurus 9mm semi-automatic. It's a great self defence unit, in poor lighting conditions you can simply turn it on your target whether it be a person or whatever.

02.58

Father and child handling guns

Father: I've got these grips on my little model 60.

Kid: It's a five shot.

Father: This is just like Granny's got but she doesn't have the new model, she has the old model, 36.

Child with gun

Jones:  You have to keep reminding yourself that this is the mainstream. That the National Rifle Association has long been the most powerful political lobby in the country.

03.28

Jones walking through gun show

Over the past 125 years the National Rifle Association has managed to equate gun ownership with everything from love of god and country to family values and freedom.

Prayer at NRA meeting

Man:  All mighty god, upon whose truth this nation is founded and by whose law this society is ordered...

03.49

Jones:  Even the prayers here are political.

Man:  ...and soon displace those who pretend to protect the people's rights while denying the people's rights and means to protect themselves..

NRA meeting

Jones:  There are more than three million paid up members of the NRA...And this year in Dallas their representatives were here to welcome a new President. The gun lovin' Grannie... Marion Hammer whose credentials were broadcast via giant screens.

04.08

Marion Hammer's video broadcast

Tape v/o  The American eagle - a symbol Marion finds strength in. A sign of independence. Letting her conscience be her pilot. Her courage be her role model. Knowing that destiny is not something you wait for. Destiny is a choice.

04.24

Marion Hammer on broadcast

Marion: Eagles spoke to our founding fathers. Eagles speak to me.

04.40

Marion at lectern addressing NRA

And we have a long history and a tradition of women standing shoulder to shoulder with men fighting for our freedom and liberty.

Jones:  The aptly named Mrs Hammer espouses a sort of "make my day" version of women's liberation.

Marion:  God created man and Colonel Colt made us equal.

Jones:  But believe it or not Marion Hammer is the gentle face of the NRA. The real political force is the executive Vice President Wayne Lapierre.

Lapierre addressing meeting

Lapierre:  In November 1994 you launched a Political revolution that changed the face of Congress and rewrote Bill Clinton's idea of American history.

05.20

Jones:  He's talking about the huge sums of money the NRA put up to back pro-gun Republicans.

Lapierre:  But listen to me very carefully. Listen. Liberty is always unfinished business.

Jones:  As the NRA mobilises against President Clinton, they have some familiar faces to make the Second Amendment sound like one of the Ten Commandments.

Charlton Heston on tape

Heston:  You consider yourself a keeper of the flame and you intend to pass that torch on to the next generation of Americans.

05.57

Jones:  Charlton Heston considers himself one of the keepers of that sacred flame.

Heston:  With one lost generation we could lose the Second Amendment forever. Because we didn't teach them what the battle is all about. We didn't strike that spark in their hearts that lights the fire for freedom.

Man and child with gun

Jones:  But if the halls here were anything to go by, that generation was already spoken for.

06.27

Coaxed and trained by the keepers of the flame. The much vaunted Second Amendment refers to the right to bear arms in the context of a ‘well-regulated militia'.

A lot of other Americans doubt that this is what the founding fathers had in mind.

ENDS

06.54