Gunning For The Gun Lobby
A National Rifle Association billboard with an invitation from NRA President Charlton Heston to "join me" is a cruel reminder for those still grieving over the events in Littleton that next week the NRA is coming to Denver, CBS News Correspondent Sandra Hughes reports.
Even though Mayor Wellington Webb has asked the NRA to go away, it will only scale back it's planned three-day conference to a one-day meeting.
Heston refused our request for an interview. A spokesman told CBS News the NRA wants the community to bury its children before it will discuss gun control.
The Littleton massacre has galvanized the anti-gun movement across the country. In California, legislators are trying to put a limit on the number of guns that can be purchased at any one time.
"How is it possible in our society that we have a culture of death that can lead people to these acts? How can the hearts of human beings become so twisted?" said California Assemblyman Wally Knox.
The California Assembly has passed a measure aimed at what's called straw gun purchases in which one buyer legally buys several guns at one time and sells them on the black market for a profit, sometimes doubling the price. Often, those buying the guns are juveniles.
In Los Angeles, police found that up to 30 percent of guns used in crimes came from these kinds of purchases.
But gun shop owner Bob Kahn finds no value in such proposed law.
"This is not about gun control. This is not about crime control. This is about people control," he said.
Even in many conservative states, pro-gun legislation is being tabled. And in Colorado, two bills long supported by the gun lobby were shut down days before becoming law.
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