Firearms Industry Warns: Giuliani No Friend to Gun Owners
February 6th, 2007 by Syd
NEWTOWN, Conn., Feb. 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — In response to New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s filing of a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission yesterday, indicating that he would enter the 2008 presidential race as a Republican, the firearms industry’s trade association, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), reminded America’s sportsmen and gun-enthusiasts of the former mayor’s record of hostility toward firearms and gun-owners.
“Recent remarks indicate the mayor is attempting to camouflage his record on guns — a political maneuver now common for politicians seeking national office,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF senior vice president and general counsel.
In June of 2000, then New York City Mayor Giuliani became the lone Republican mayor to sue members of the firearms industry as part of a wave of lawsuits that began in the late 1990’s by major metropolitan cities like Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Philadelphia and San Francisco that sought to hold firearms manufactures responsible for the criminal misuse of firearms. The Giuliani lawsuit is still pending and being aggressively pursued by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Giuliani strongly opposed legislation blocking suits like the one he filed against members of the firearms industry. In 2005, President Bush signed legislation into law that barred such lawsuits after Congress, by a broad bipartisan margin, passed the bill. During the debate in Congress the Giuliani lawsuit was specifically referred to as an example of the kind of “junk” lawsuit the law is intended to stop.
“Giuliani’s lawsuit may have gained him praise in Gotham, but will surely handicap him in the rest of the country, particularly during the southern primaries,” predicted Keane.
More recently Giuliani’s campaign has flipped-flopped on whether he continues his longstanding support for restoring the Clinton-era federal ban on some semi-automatic rifles based on cosmetic appearance. The so-called “assault weapons” ban sunset in 2004. Several studies including by the Department of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control showed the ban had no impact on crime largely because the banned firearms were very rarely if ever used in crime. The ban had nothing to do with machine guns, which have remained heavily regulated since the early part of the last century. According to the New York Post, Giuliani’s political operative in New Hampshire, Wayne Semprini, “has been telling voters that the mayor will be an ‘easy sell’ — and that the ex-mayor ’satisfied’ him that he won’t support federal assault-weapons bans, as he has in the past.” All the while Anthony Carbonetti, Giuliani’s top advisor, has been telling New Yorkers “the mayor’s position on this [the assault weapons ban] has not changed.”
Commenting on this equivocation, Keane added, “You can’t pretend to be a supporter of sportsmen and gun-owners in New Hampshire when you tried to sue the firearms industry out of existence in New York. Other politicians learned the hard way that sportsmen and gun-owners are a well-informed and highly motivated voting bloc. Former President Clinton in his memoirs admitted the gun issue cost Al Gore the White House, and Senator Kerry’s ill- fated goose hunt cooked his presidential aspirations in 2004.”
Formed in 1961, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) is the trade association for the firearms industry. For more information, visit http://www.nssf.org.
See also: Rudolph Giuliani on Gun Control
Is this the best the Republican party can come up with? If this is the best they have to offer, expect a Democrat as the next White House resident. Thank goodness there’s still over 1.5 years left until the election, maybe someone worthy of my vote will run on the Republican side. RINOs are not my cup of tea.
Ron Paul, where are you? Your country needs you!
DAL357
I think you put your finger right on it. The Republicans really don’t seem to have a candidate. As much as I like Ron Paul, I don’t think he has a strong chance of getting the nomination.
whats wrong with michael savage ? If you don’t know him, it would serve you well to listen to his radio program. He knows what he is talking about. He knows that you can’t appease the people who are want to end our ” free ” way of life. They want to kill us ! If they get ” nukes ” and deliver them on our soil, well, I guess that the ” libs ” will die right along with the rest of us ! We, as a free country must stop this threat now!
I believe Giuliani understands that in order to appeal to core value voters, he must rethink his stance on certain issues. Men are allowed to make mistakes, it is what they learn from them that counts. I believe Giuliani understands what we Americans desire, and the most important issue overlooked in this argument is whom he appoints in the future to replace Justices such as John Paul Stevens, and possibly Anthony Kennedy. This is the theater where the Red Army of the ACLU operates with relative impunity. If Giuliani can appoint men of similar calibur such as Roberts and Alito, the libs will have no where to run. We will effectively have them on the ropes and return to the days when being a communist was considered seditious. Look out libs, there’s a new sheriff coming.
It is my hope that ‘G’ might re-think the error of his ways. He has time to pursuade me that he has changed his position. Until then, I CANNOT vote for him.
you want a republican president “condoleeza rice.” i don’t know if i spelled it right, but you get the person. she would make a extreemly good president.
1. she is known by friend and foe alike. 2. a hard negotiater. 3. respectedp by the leaders of the free world. 4.if she would run against hillery c. she would have the afro-american vote, as well as women vote. if against barrak obamashe would still have probably all women’s votes. 5. she has said in manny interviews she grew up with self defense guns in the house. 6. she has set in with pres. bush on almost all conferences. 7. she is extreemly well educated. there is probably more that i don’t know about her that would only qualify her more than anyone i can think of.
Maybe he’ll see this…
To: Ex-New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, you and your city had to endure what no mayor or city should EVER have to endure. Please re-think your anti-gun stand. Just think if just ONE person aboard any of those aircraft was legaly carying a weapon… one (or both) of the WTC towers would still be standing… It staggers the mind.