Giuliani tells NRA 9/11 changed his stance on guns: The Swamp

Posted September 21, 2007 2:44 PM

by Craig Gordon

Rudy Giuliani told the National Rifle Association today that his own views on gun control have evolved in part due to the Sept. 11 attacks, which he said highlighted the importance of the Second Amendment right of allowing law-abiding citizens to carry guns.

Facing a group that he once likened to "extremists," Giuliani sought to temper his past strong support for national gun control laws by saying that he could no longer support a lawsuit he filed as New York mayor in 2000, which was designed to hold gun-makers liable for gun violence.

Giuliani said "there have been subsequent intervening events - September 11 -- which casts somewhat of a different light on the Second Amendment and Second Amendment rights. It doesn't change the fundamental rights, but maybe it highlights the necessity for them more."

Giuliani has built his presidential campaign on convincing Republicans that his performance after the Sept. 11 attacks shows he is the strong leader America needs - but it was the first time he had linked his personal views on gun control to the terror attacks.

The lawsuit - which ironically was being debated in a New York appeals court yesterday as well - was one of the sharpest points of disagreement between Giuliani and the gun-rights lobby, which he criticized as President Bill Clinton's leading Republican ally in pushing for a national assault weapons ban.

Giuliani rival John McCain also criticized Giuliani's tactics yesterday, calling it a "particularly devious effort to use lawsuits to bankrupt our great manufacturers. A number of big-city mayor decided it was more important to blame the manufacturers of a legal product than it was to control crime in their own cities."

Former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson also addressed the meeting of about 400 NRA members, winning by far the warmest reception of the top-tier candidates as he recounted his long-standing relationship with the NRA. He also indirectly criticized Giuliani when he told the audience he doesn't believe that guns laws should be different between big cities like New York and more rural areas of the country - a position Giuliani has taken.

In his remarks, Giuliani sought to forge common ground with the member of the nation's leading gun-rights group, stressing that he used gun laws in New York City as a way to crack down on rampant crime and turn New York into the safest large city in America.

And he backed off from his past calls for more gun laws in the nation - such as his support of the assault weapons ban - by saying he now believes its more important to strictly enforce the laws already on the books, with tough mandatory sentences, than to create new ones.

"We need to have zero tolerance for crime committed with a gun. After all, it's people that commit crimes, not guns," Giuliani said, echoing a long-standing NRA slogan. In prosecuting gun crimes, Giuliani called for "no plea bargains, no exceptions, you go to jail."

On the city's 2000 lawsuit, Giuilani sought to defend his thinking at the time, saying he was trying to use every law at his disposal and every interpretation of every law to cut violent crimes and pointed to a 60 percent drop in murders and a more than 70 percent drop in shootings as proof his approach worked.

But he said he could not longer support the lawsuit because it has taken some legal turns that he doesn't agree with, though he did not elaborate. And he said his thinking also was influenced by a recent court ruling that overturned a strict handgun ban in the District of Columbia, which he said crystallized his own thinking.

Comments

He would have shot down one of those planes ???????????????

Posted by: bill r. | September 21, 2007 2:58 PM

I love the headline:

Giuliani tells NRA 9/11 changed his stance on guns

Yeah, changed his stance, really? So, what, now he has a Wide Stance? Is he a "Wide Stance Republican" now?

Posted by: nisleib | September 21, 2007 3:18 PM

Flip - I am FOR more gun control laws

Flop - I am AGAINST more gun control laws

C'mon, Rudy - make up your mind.

Posted by: BobinATL | September 21, 2007 3:20 PM

Giuliani had NYC sue the gun industry. Here is the video from the press conference:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs5DxwzEXHQ

Giuliani defends the lawsuit against the gun industry on his radio program. The gun industry was "overproducing guns". Here is the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhe38wJ86Do

Posted by: jmegill | September 21, 2007 3:22 PM

Giuliani tells NRA 9/11 changed his stance on guns?

I can't believe it, Rudy flip-flopped and pandered? no way.

Rudy JulieAnnie is making John Kerry of 04 sound better and better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5X34bmzNss&mode=related&search=

Posted by: John E | September 21, 2007 3:22 PM

Just like Mit, another Flip-Flopper! Hypocrisy!

Who knew after the Bush vs. Kerry election, that this phrase could be applied so liberally and/or literally for the very GOP party responsible for it's creation!

Posted by: Spare Me | September 21, 2007 3:28 PM

Posted by: Spare Me | September 21, 2007 3:29 PM

The real question for the GOP Presidential field is who is the biggest flip flopper.

I have a feeling the GOP is really going to regret making "flip flop" a household term. It may have helped them in 2004 but it is going to hurt in 2008.

Oh well, live by the two word talking point, die by the two word talking point.

Posted by: nisleib | September 21, 2007 3:32 PM

The "varmint hunters" know have enough members to have by-laws and officers.

Did Yosimite Sam co-sign Rudolph's NRA card like he did for Willard?

Wun you wascally wabbits wun!

Posted by: Doug Zook | September 21, 2007 3:48 PM

Sure he did. pandering a%s-hole. We have one of those in the Whitehouse already!

http://www.rudy-urbanlegend.com/

Posted by: Logic Prisoner | September 21, 2007 4:12 PM

So was he for it before he was against it, or was he against it before he was for it?

Posted by: kg123 | September 21, 2007 4:26 PM

Really, all you Loons in here really need to seek some professional help. Either that, or find some faulty mine to play in cause your self-imposed misery seems to be more than you can handle. All that energy for all that hate. Sad, quite sad. But that is the Loony Left.

Posted by: John D | September 21, 2007 4:55 PM

funny how conservatives are so concerned about protecting 2nd ammendment rights, and don't seem to give a flying ƒµ¢k about the 4th... and conversly, liberals tend to be so passionate about protecting the 4th, and act like the 2nd was some sort of brain fart on the part of the founding fathers...

get it together people! both of these crucial ammendments ought to be interpreted liberaly, ie. openly...

demand gun rights!! demand civil liberties!!

Posted by: seth | September 21, 2007 11:09 PM

em Really, all you Loons in here really need to seek some professional help. Either that, or find some faulty mine to play in cause your self-imposed misery seems to be more than you can handle. All that energy for all that hate. Sad, quite sad. But that is the Loony Left.

!em wolb D nhoJ

Posted by: John D's Boy Friend | September 22, 2007 5:50 AM

"Posted by: John D | September 21, 2007 4:55 PM"

John D, "the Joseph Stalin of Streamwood", why don't you act older than a 6 year old and admit that Giuliani has been caught flip-flopping.

Better yet, why don't you defend his lie that he spent as much time at the site of the WTC as rescue teams did, when the fact is he spent more time in the stands watching Yankee baseball games than he spent at the WTC ruins after 9/11?

Posted by: BC | September 22, 2007 7:12 PM

seth:

How about that! I finally find myself in total and unqualified agreement with what you said! It's all in the Constitution, and it should all be respected.

Giuliani is a chameleon whom I will never trust.

Posted by: John W. | September 23, 2007 2:03 AM

I hear the sound of a little blue gill flipping and flopping around the bottom of a flat bottom boat.

'What a maroon'. (BB)

Posted by: C.Morris | September 23, 2007 8:00 PM