He's the NRA

A proud gun owner respects our right to bear arms. He also wants you to respect your gun.

By TWILA DECKER, Times Staff Writer

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 1, 2000

[Times photo: Pam Royal] John Gluck of Pinellas Park teaches a personal protection and pistol class, saying "You people on the left, you like guns. You people on the right who hate guns, I want you to help me to make sure the other guys have theirs locked up.

PINELLAS PARK -- The bumper sticker on the back of his blue Dodge pickup hints at John Gluck's passion: "Charlton Heston is my president." So does his tag: LIFENRA.

But John Gluck is just as likely to preach about safety as he is about the importance of the Second Amendment.

He locked up his guns long before laws required adults to do so. The 70-year-old former police officer used his handcuffs to bolt his service revolver to an eye hook in his closet, safely away from his children's reach. Four Gluck children grew up without incident.

All around him, people are watching the nightly news and finding more and more reasons to put restrictions on gun ownership. In Colorado, two heavily armed teenagers carry out a massacre. In West Palm Beach, a boy shoots and kills his teacher on the last day of school. Hillsborough County State Attorney Harry Lee Coe III sits down under an overpass and takes his life with a handgun.

Restrict firearm ownership, gun-control advocates say, and you prevent many of these deaths.

Although Gluck doesn't agree with everything the NRA says, his views on the Second Amendment are not much different from those of Heston, the man who once said Vice President Al Gore would have to take his guns from his "cold, dead hands."

But Gluck says the criminal and irresponsible use of a firearm -- not the gun itself -- is what hurts people.

"We want the bad guy in jail," says Gluck, who enjoys shooting off a few rounds a week at the Wyoming Antelope Club Florida Chapter. "We don't want to see the bad guy out there running around. What he is doing is ruining our sport."

Up to our necks in arms From Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture, by Michael Bellesiles, to be published in September by Knopf. Bellesiles cites research suggesting Americans were largely indifferent to gun ownership until the Civil War.

When Gluck grew up in the small town of Shelton, Conn., it was nothing for him to lug his weapon around town.

"We would walk around with a .22 over our arm and walk into a hardware store, buy a box of ammunition and go into the woods and shoot it," he said. "No one would think anything about it. It was just the way it was."

It was long before school shootings started happening, before armed robberies became commonplace.

He went into the Marine Corps and fought in the Korean War, further honing his shooting skills. Then he got out and got a degree in engineering with the help of the GI Bill.

Soon, he was working as a engineer at Sikorsky Helicopter, a company founded by Igor Sikorsky, who designed the first working helicopter, and as a part-time police officer in his hometown.

"Back in the '60s, it wasn't anything like it is today," he said of getting his job in law enforcement. "Today you almost have to have a degree. In those days, I went to the chief, he says, "You own a gun? You know how to use it? Okay, see the sergeant and he'll tell you when you're on duty.' "

In the 1970s, Gluck and his family moved to Florida, where he was a woodworker until he retired a year ago. But his passion for shooting remained.

He hooked up with the Wyoming Antelope Club at 3700 126th Ave. N in Pinellas Park, which got its name from founders who used to hunt a lot in Wyoming. He has held nearly every post at the non-profit shooting range, including president. He is a regular on Wednesday mornings in the Seniors Pistol Match. He also has given dozens of speeches about gun safety around town to everyone from Boy Scouts to PTA members.

"The first thing I'll do is make believe I am drawing a line," he says, describing his safety courses. "I say, "You people on the left, you like guns. You people on the right who hate guns, I want you to help me to make sure the other guys have theirs locked up.' "

He says he encourages parents to make sure other parents keep their guns locked safely away.

"If your son comes home and says, "Joey's Daddy hunts and has guns,' I would encourage you to walk over and ask the parent to let you see how he's got them locked up," Gluck says. "If the guy is arrogant, say, "Fine, my kid is not coming over here anymore.' "

He says he knows guns can be used to kill; he doesn't blame guns. He has heard the statistics, including that guns account for 60 percent of suicides, and that research shows that people often kill themselves impulsively using guns. If people are desperate to end their lives, he says, they will find a way.

He believes the NRA is a necessity.

"If you go back to the people who signed the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, their whole philosophy was they came from countries where the government controlled the people. You couldn't do anything.

"One of the things they wanted was to allow the civilian population to own firearms in case the government goes bad. I know we're not going to fight tanks or fighter planes or anything like that. But it gives the people a little more resolve that this is our country. We will keep it safe."

Gluck thought Heston got a little carried away at the National Rifle Association's annual meeting in May when he held up a rifle and delivered a warning to Al Gore and other NRA opponents.

"I want to say those fighting words, to hear and to heed, and especially to you, Mr. Gore," Heston said, waving the rifle. "From my cold, dead hands."

Although he believes Heston went overboard, Gluck supports the essential message.

"The principle is to allow law-abiding citizens to own a firearm if they decide. They don't say you must have one. It is there if you want them. If you can't be responsible, don't own a gun."

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