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Rudy talking about Gun Control and the Second Amendment

Rudolph Giuliani on Gun Control

Fmr. NY Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, “America’s Mayor”

I am not convinced that Rudy Giuliani represents a serious candidacy for the office of President of the United States. Were the Republican Party to nominate him, it would, in the same breath, will itself out of existence. If nothing else, when the drag photos find their way south of the Mason-Dixon line, it will be curtains for Rudy. Nevertheless, he is currently running ahead in the polls, so let’s take a look at the cavalcade of sins Rudy has committed against gun owners:

Giuliani Joins the War on Handgun Manufacturers (NY Times, June 20, 2000)
NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani says that his administration will file its own lawsuit against handgun manufacturers, seeking tens of millions of dollars to compensate New York City for injuries and other damages from illegal gun use. Source

Giuliani wants to require license to have firearm (Boston Globe, Mar. 21, 2000)
“My position for many years has been that just as a motorist must have a license, a gun owner should be required to have one as well. Anyone wanting to own a gun should have to pass a written exam that shows that they know how to use a gun, that they’re intelligent enough and responsible enough to handle a gun. Should both handgun and rifle owners be licensed…we’re talking about all dangerous weapons.” Source

Giuliani: Gun Control is answer to violence (Speech to Citizens’ Crime Commission, Mar. 6, 1997)
“…we may be able to find some sort of meaning in this tragedy by using it as a catalyst to revive national gun control efforts.” Source

Memorable gun quotes from Rudy:

“Yesterday, President Clinton outlined his proposals for more stringent, federal gun licensing requirements. His proposals include: prohibiting non-citizens from buying guns; requiring proof of residency, including photo id. and something like a utility bill in the buyers name… similar to what is required for a drivers license; making cop killer, or Teflon coated, armor piercing bullets illegal; and requiring child safety locks on the weapons of all Federal Officials to prevent these guns from ever winding up in the hands of children. I applaud the President’s proposals, and I will support them any way I can.” Source

“I used gun control as mayor,” he said at a news conference Saturday during a swing through California. But “I understand the Second Amendment. I understand the right to bear arms.”

He said what he did as mayor would have no effect on hunting. Source

“We need a federal law that bans all assault weapons, and if in fact you do need a handgun you should be subjected to at least the same restrictions — and really stronger ones — that exist for driving an automobile. The United States Congress needs to pass uniform licensing for everyone carrying a gun. Congress must do more to prevent a tragedy like the one that happened at the Empire State Building from ever happening again.” – Rudy Giuliani, Mayor’s WINS Address, Sunday, March 2, 1997 Source

Interview with Sean Hannity:

HANNITY: But generally speaking, do you think it’s acceptable if citizens have the right to carry a handgun?

GIULIANI: It’s not only — I mean, it’s part of the Constitution. People have the right to bear arms. Then the restrictions of it have to be reasonable and sensible. You can’t just remove that right. You’ve got to regulate, consistent with the Second Amendment.

HANNITY: How do you feel about the Brady bill and assault ban?

GIULIANI: I was in favor of that as part of the crime bill. I was in favor of it because I thought that it was necessary both to get the crime bill passed and also necessary with the 2,000 murders or so that we were looking at, 1,800, 1,900, to 2,000 murders, that I could use that in a tactical way to reduce crime. And I did. Interview with Sean Hannity, Source

Commenting on Rudy’s gun control fetish, John Velleco writes:

In 1993, Giuliani met with then-President Clinton to discuss national gun registration and supported the Brady bill, which had recently passed, but Rudy argued that it didn’t go far enough. Clinton, largely crediting Giuliani for the idea, enthusiastically sent Atty. Gen. Janet Reno off to develop a gun-licensing and registration system.

In May 1994, as the battle over the ban on certain semi-automatic firearms reached its height, Giuliani threw his support behind the ban. On the eve of the final vote, he noted that so-called assault weapons “have no legitimate purpose.” When the ban passed, Giuliani commented that “this is an important step toward curtailing the indiscriminate proliferation of guns across the nation.”

When a lunatic attacked innocent civilians at the Empire State Building in 1997, Giuliani used the tragedy to again push for gun control beyond his city’s limits: “We need a federal law that bans all assault weapons, and if in fact you do need a handgun, you should be subjected to at least the same restrictions—and really stronger ones—that exist for driving an automobile. … Congress needs to pass uniform licensing for everyone carrying a gun.”

When Rudy did focus on city gun laws, which already were among the most stringent in the country, his effort was only to further disarm the law-abiding.

In 1998, Giuliani pushed a proposal that would require gun owners to use “trigger locks” on all firearms, thus rendering the guns useless in the event of an emergency. Such a law would be enforced, he said, through “criminal penalties and the revocation of gun permits.”

If Giuliani had a federalist conversion, it did not occur in his first six years as mayor, for in 2000, he again took his gun-control show on the road. 

In becoming the first GOP mayor to launch a city lawsuit against gun makers, Giuliani complained that “less restrictive gun laws in other parts of the country” exacerbated the crime problem in New York City. Source

Among Rudy’s most egregious sins, the one I can’t forget about or get over is The Lawsuit:

Rudy’s lawsuit against firearms industry

By Republican Michigander

From the City of New York itself

MAYOR GIULIANI AND SPEAKER VALLONE ANNOUNCE

CITY LAWSUIT AGAINST GUN INDUSTRY

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and City Council Speaker Peter F. Vallone, joined by Corporation Counsel Michael Hess, today announced that the City of New York has filed a lawsuit against two dozen major gun manufacturers and distributors. The suit alleges a number of illegal practices conducted by the gun industry, including:

Deliberately manufacturing many more firearms than can be bought for legitimate purposes such as hunting and law enforcement, and knowingly targeting these excess guns to criminals, youths and other persons unqualified to buy firearms;

Deliberately undermining New York City’s gun control laws by flooding markets with looser gun laws with firearms that the manufacturers know are destined to be illegally resold in New York City;

Ignoring the illegal practices of gun distributors, many of whom openly engage in the above practices;

Refusing to manufacture safer guns, with such features as trigger locks and “personalization” measures that allow only authorized persons to fire the weapon.

“This is an industry that is profiting from the suffering of innocent people,” Mayor Giuliani said. “What’s worse, its profits rest on a number of illegal and immoral practices. This lawsuit is meant to end the free pass that the gun industry has so long enjoyed.”

Council Speaker Vallone said, “More than 30,000 people, including 4,200 children, die every year in the U.S. from firearms-more people than in any other country in the world. I join with the Mayor in this lawsuit to send a message to gun manufacturers that New York City will hold them accountable for their reckless and irresponsible practices.”

The suit seeks an as yet unspecified amount of damages for the many ways in which these illegal practices and illegal guns harm New York City and its residents-including, for instance, the $17 million per year spent by the City Health and Hospitals Corporation treating gunshot wounds.

Defendants named in the suit include most major gun manufacturers, distributors and dealers currently operating the United States, or who export large numbers of guns to the United States.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit are the City of New York, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, City Council Speaker Peter F. Vallone, and the Health and Hospitals Corporation. The suit was filed in the United States District Court, Eastern District of New York. Source

Rudy led the charge in the spurious lawsuits designed to bankrupt the gun industry. Following New York, New Orleans, Chicago, Los Angeles and a score of other cities piled on trying to get some free money or just bankrupt the gun industry. The suits were ultimately thrown out and Congress eventually protected the gun makers with the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. Nevertheless, the damage was done, and I notice that most quality handguns have about doubled in price since 2000, in part due to the legal fees incurred by the gun makers.

In an e-mail to David Hardy, Don Kates analyzed Giuliani’s attitude toward guns in this way:

Throughout his political career Bill Clinton’s “position on the Second Amendment” was a bald-faced lie. Every time the subject arose he falsely proclaimed his “belief in the Second Amendment.” Insofar as there was any truth in this scam, what Clinton meant was that he believed that the Second Amendment does not mean anything.

Rudy Giuliani employs the exact same scam in the exact same way by proclaiming that he believes in the Second Amendment. By carefully reviewing his assertions in the context of his record it is possible to ferret out his real beliefs and intended program. He believes that people living in low crime areas may be allowed (as a privilege, not a right) to have guns for sport. But no one other than public employees and the politically powerful has a right to possess firearms for self-defense. Worse yet, he believes the key to reducing crime consists of disarming everyone who believes in a right to possess arms for self-defense and who lives in an area where the incidence of crime is such that they have some likelihood of using arms for self-defense…

…If I were Sarah Brady faced with a contest between Hillary and Rudy I would vote for Rudy. Each wants to ban and confiscate guns. But it is far less likely that a Democrat could get away with trying to outlaw gun ownership than that Rudy could do so…

Source: Of Arms and The Law

In current news, Rudy seems to be trying to mend fences:

“… Running on his credentials on national security and cutting crime and taxes, Mr. Giuliani has led the early polling in the race for the Republican nomination, despite his differences with conservatives on several issues including abortion, gay rights, and gun control … Mr. Giuliani also took a step to the right on guns, saying yesterday that he agreed with a federal appeals court ruling striking down a District of Columbia ban on handguns in homes …” Source

Rudy may try to do the old campaign two-step now that he’s attempting to win the votes of conservative Republicans, but he’s got a history with gun control that won’t go away. He may be an interesting fellow, and he certainly had his moment of glory on 9-11, but he doesn’t understand the Second Amendment, and he has not been a friend to gun owners up to now, and it is going to take more than a couple of sound bites to win us over. ‘Nuff said.

Other Resources on Rudy and Gun Control:

Giuliani on guns
John Fund points to some interesting quotes by Rudy Giuliani here. Here are some of the statements that Giuliani has made on guns.

More on Giuliani on Gun Control

Rudy’s Gun-Control Agenda

Crawdad

Video: Giuliani defending lawsuit against manufacturers and gun control

Video: Rudy Giuliani announces lawsuit against gun companies

Video: Giuliani on gun control