I have only five words for you: From my cold, dead hands

Charlton Heston

"Of course, we can't predict the outcome of the election, but chances are pretty good I'll postpone my farewell address another year," Heston said to cheers.

He praised the 4.3 million members of the NRA for their overwhelming success in electing pro-gun candidates in the US elections in November 2000.

The group says 86% of the 10,000 candidates it endorsed won.

"Freedom-loving Americans begged us to make the difference in the most closely contested election in the nation's history," said Heston.

"Liberty was on the line, and God bless you, you who made the difference," he said.

Heston added: "You are of the same lineage as the farmers who stood at Concord Bridge" at the start of the American Revolution.

Charlton Heston: Spokesman for US gun enthusiasts

Given a musket from that war, he held it above his head and said, "I have only five words for you: From my cold, dead hands."

Across the street from the convention, some 200 NRA opponents met to hear speeches.

Demonstrators held signs referring to Heston's movie roles.

One read: "Send Charlton Heston back to the Planet of the Apes", while another said: "Hey Charlie, we loved you in the Nine Commandments (thou shalt not kill excluded)."

Membership of the NRA is at an all-time high, with an increase of several hundred thousand in the past year alone.

Fortune magazine recently called it the most pwerful lobbying group in Washington.