October 4

Just about everybody and their dog knows that Charlton Heston was a big time supporter of the gun rights. What most don't know, is that it was never so much about guns as it was about rights. Heston had a long history of standing up for the rights of others, often to the dismay of several studios. In a time when Hollywood was quite white and content to stay that way, Heston worked with others such as James Baldwin and Martin Luther King, Jr., putting the weight of his celebrity and influence behind the fledgling American Civil Rights movement; all at a time long before such things became trendy in Hollywood. Knocking over long-entrenched sacred cows and demanding more power be placed where it belongs - in the hands of citizens - eventually became something of a habit for Chuck...

What else happened today

1923 — John Charles Carter, the only child of Lilla and Russell Whitford Carter was born in Evanston, Illinois. 2006 — US President George W. Bush signed into law the NRA-backed Disaster Recovery Personal Protection Act of 2006, which prohibits the confiscation of otherwise legal firearms from law-abiding citizens during states of emergency by any agent of the Federal Government or anyone receiving Federal funds (effectively, any Federal, state, or local governmental entity).