Tammy Clinger, of Murphy, N.C., had just returned home from dropping her son at school when she heard a knock at her front door. She and her husband, Brett, opened the door and found a strange man standing on their doorstep claiming to be looking for his sister. The man tried to enter their home, but the Clingers refused him entrance. Earlier in the day, Tammy had been stopped by a North Carolina State Highway Patrol officer who checked her vehicle for a fugitive on the run. She realized the man at her door might be the outlaw they were searching for and had her husband get his gun while she distracted the man. Brett Clinger armed himself with a handgun, went out another door and snuck up on the man who was later identified by authorities as fugitive William Thomas Hewlett. Clinger ordered Hewlett to get into his truck and detained him until a North Carolina state trooper arrived to take the fugitive back into custody. (The Cherokee Scout, Murphy, NC, 02/26/OA3)

Stella Ruth Stewart, 86, was in a bedroom of her west Huntsville, Ala., home when she heard a strange noise in the kitchen. Stewart armed herself with a pistol and headed toward the noise. She saw one man standing in her kitchen and noticed that a second man was about to enter. Stewart yelled at the intruders and fired a shot in their direction. The two interlopers made a hasty exit. Police searched the area with a K-9 team, but the suspects were not found. (Huntsville Times, Huntsville, AL, 03/19/03)

Sherry Lewis was sleeping soundly on her living room couch when she was suddenly awakened by three men who had entered her home. The intruders attacked Lewis, beating her with a pool cue. Lewis' companion, Jeffrey Shaw, tried to help her fend off the attackers, but they began assaulting him, as well, beating him and stabbing him once in the side. The men then forced Lewis’ children into separate bedrooms and began ransacking the house. Shaw was then able to get a .22-cal. rifle from his room and shoot all three men, who managed to flee in a waiting car. Deputies soon found the suspects in a nearby home, all three suffering from gunshot wounds. The driver, Lisa Watson, was also present and had sustained a superficial wound. Authorities expected to file charges once the suspects were released from the hospital. As for Jeffrey Shaw, police described his actions as a clear-cut case of self defense. "This individual was protecting himself, his family and his property at the time," said Grant County Sheriff's Detective Sgt. Kevin Pauley. (Marion Chronicle, Marion, ID, 03/8/03)

The day after he was released from prison, where he served time for domestic battery against Charolette Gates, Christopher Winder broke into Gates' home. A fight broke out, and Gates reached for a handgun to defend herself. Gates shot Winder once in the chest. Police discovered Winder collapsed in a neighbor's back yard, and he was later pronounced dead at the scene. No charges were expected to be filed against Gates, according to Peoria County State's Attorney Kevin Lyons. "Your home is your sanctuary, and if an intruder breaks in and gets killed, then too bad for the intruder," Lyons said. "I am not going to victimize her yet again because a recently released felon decided to invade the quiet world of her home." (Journal Star, Peoria, IL, 03/12/03)

A Laketon Township, Mich., couple was watching television in their living room one night when a masked man armed with a metal bat burst into their home. Detective Lt. Dennis Edwards of the Muskegon County Sheriff's Department reported that the intruder raised his bat in a threatening manner and demanded money from the couple. The husband stood and pulled out his wallet, but then dropped it on the floor. When the home invader looked down, the resident tackled him and told his wife to get their gun. She retrieved the gun, racked it and "the suspect got up and took off running," said Edwards. Deputies searched the woods near the home, but the suspect was not found. (Muskegon Chronicle, Muskegon, Ml, 02/26/03)

Vanessa Perrigoue had just taken her 4-year-old terrier, Ethan, out for a morning walk in their Laguna Niguel neighborhood when two large dogs jumped the smaller dog. Perrigoue screamed and attempted to rescue Ethan, but the dogs, a pit bull mix and Labrador mix, continued their vicious attack. Upon hearing his wife's screams, Joseph Perrigoue grabbed his .45-cal. handgun and went to her aid. The Perrigoues' dog, Ethan, had been killed and his attackers had run off. Perrigoue followed the dogs' bloody tracks back to a nearby apartment. When he knocked on the door, both dogs jumped out an open window and attacked him. Perrigoue defended himself, shooting both dogs. Animal-control officers took the wounded dogs away and attempted to contact their owner, whom neighbors said had been out of town for several days. (Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, CA, 02/27/03)

In a film tribute at the NRA Annual Meetings in Orlando, Tom Selleck, a Hollywood star and staunch supporter of the Second Amendment in his own right, called Charlton Heston:

"A man whose patriotism is a state of being. Not a brief burst of sentiment reserved for the Fourth of July, but the steady allegiance of a lifetime. A man whose devotion to principle is a primer for how to be an American patriot.

"It's a lot easier to play a leading man than it is to be a leading advocate like Charlton Heston," Selleck said. "While history will judge his place in theater, we can already judge his place in the constellation of American patriots. Charlton Heston is ... Freedom's leading man."

Amen to that.

In the 132-year history of NRA, Chuck Heston has stood among the best ever to lead our Association—the oldest civil rights institution in America. His deeds have had a profound effect on the solidarity of our membership and on the American public's perception of the NRA.

When Charlton Heston was elected to the presidency of the National Rifle Association at the NRA's 1998 Annual Meetings in Philadelphia, NRA members put their faith in not just a man, but in the spirit of freedom and liberty he exudes and to which he has devoted his life to protect.

In his unprecedented five-year tenure, Chuck Heston has been effective, not just because of his status as an American icon and a Hollywood legend, but because— much like Ronald Reagan—there is an openness about him that exposes a decency and honesty that always shines through. When ordinary Americans hear him speak eloquently on his beliefs in America, they cannot help but walk away understanding and sharing his fundamental knowledge that ours is a good nation of good people, whose power stems from liberty and freedoms we are blessed to share.

Tirelessly representing NRA, his plain speaking defense of American liberty has been heard across the nation, energizing firearm owners, persuading those who first disagree with our beliefs and, ultimately, changing the course of history.

In a 1997 speech before the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., he unabashedly told the standing room-only audience of reporters and editors:

"I believe every good journalist needs to know why the Second Amendment must be considered more essential than the First Amendment. This may be a bitter pill to swallow, but the right to keep and bear arms is not archaic, it is as essential to liberty today as it was in 1776.

"And your efforts to undermine the Second Amendment, to deride it and degrade it, to readily accept diluting it and eagerly promote redefining it, threaten not only the physical well-being of millions of Americans, but also the core concept of individual liberty our founding fathers struggled to perfect and protect.

"I simply cannot stand by and watch a right guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States come under attack from those who either can't understand it, don't like the sound of it, or find themselves too philosophically squeamish to see why it remains the first among equals: because it is the right we turn to when all else fails.

"Please go forth and tell the truth. There can be no free speech, no freedom of the press ... for anybody anywhere, without the Second Amendment freedom to fight for it."

That was Heston at his best, unafraid to voice the views of the millions of individual Americans he represented. And he did it proudly, anywhere he could. I am grateful that we can count on him to continue as long as he is willing.

Being with Heston, watching him touch the hearts of thousands of families—especially on the grueling political trail of the 2000 elections when activist supporters of the Second Amendment delivered key states to George W. Bush—was an incredible honor. He moved people by reminding them of their proud heritage in American freedom. Our freedom.

Last year, even though it was an especially draining schedule, Charlton Heston was on the campaign trail again. This time he was instrumental in inspiring pro-gun-rights voters with a can-do spirit. His appearances at rally after rally in key states electrified our voters in what the media wanted people to believe was a ho-hum off-year election.

Chuck Heston on the campaign trail is remarkable, yet always, in a word, humble. With NRA members, with voters, with families, he always listens, always connects. Given all he has accomplished in his life—international stardom and acclaim—he has never lost touch with his mid-American roots. Nor has he ever lost sight of what is important in life: faith, family and freedom.
He is one of us—one among us.
And what he is—what we are together— has never been said so well as in his words expressed in his farewell as President:
" We're an amazing bunch when you think about it. Nowhere else in the world, or in the history of the world, is there a fellowship of millions devoted to the singular mission of preserving freedom from its adversaries."
Along with our thanks to him, we owe a debt to his wife, Lydia, and others close to him who have made enormous sacrifices so that he could serve the NRA and the cause of freedom.