NRA goes nontraditional

April 13, 2005
Houston Chrinicle

Perhaps the most enduring image of the National Rifle Association is Charlton Heston, brandishing a rifle above his head, stirring the crowd with his oft-repeated, "From my cold, dead hands!"

It is a tough act to follow.

Sandra S. Froman, the NRA's first vice president, is expected to be elected president by the NRA's board of directors on Monday, after the group's annual convention, which begins Friday in Houston.

She will not be trying to outdo the man who played Moses.

"Every president of NRA brings to the office their own skills, their own personality," Froman said Tuesday, shortly after arriving in Houston to prepare for the convention.

Heston, suffering from Alzheimer's, stepped down in 2003 after five years as a dynamic head of the organization.

"He was charismatic, well-known, I mean, a movie star," said one of the NRA's harshest critics, Peter Hamm, a spokesman for The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "He served the organization's wrong-headed goals well."

Kayne Robinson, who became president immediately after Heston, leaves office next week after a quiet and brief tenure.

Froman plans to use the position to emphasize women's issues, especially self-defense.

"Being a woman and a nontraditional, if you will, president of NRA, may bring some attention to the organization," said Froman, who will be the group's second female president.

The first was Marion Hammer, who was elected in 1996.

Click here to read the entire story in the Houston Chronicle.

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