Convince me - Giuliani and Gun Control
By tcgeol Posted in Archived — Comments (2) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
There are a lot of people on this site who I admire that like Giuliani. Although it is evident that I am not his biggest fan, gun control is the biggest reason why. We have debated his abortion stance till the cows come home, but he is pretty clear on his position as it relates to life. His stance on abortion is a problem for me, but his stance on gun control is the real deal-breaker right now. The same goes for Romney as well, but he has not pushed an agenda relating to RKBA like Giuliani.
I would sincerely like to have an explanation for the following:
-He was part of a group that sued a number of firearms companies for, among other things, negligence for producing more guns than needed for law enforcement or hunting. This is a huge, huge problem. If he really believes (or willingly ignores) that the Second Amendment has anything to do with law enforcement or hunting, then he is off my list of candidates by default. Secondly, why is it any of his business to interfere in the legitmate and legal business of a company?
-He was proud of the fact that NYC's gun laws were as strict as they were, and bragged about taking guns out of the city.
-He supported the 1994 gun ban in the crime bill, and supported the renewal attempt in 2004, which did not succeed. (His web site is quiet about this, but at the time he was in favor)
-He stated that he has been pushing hard since 1985 for registration of all handguns, and a written test, physical test, and good moral reason to own one.
My challenge to any of you who are pro-Giuliani is to prove to me that I don't need to worry about his stance on RKBA. I'm willing to listen if you all can legitimately explain away these stances. If you can do this, you can possibly remove a big sticking point against him.
Just to add to your case just in case it's unclear to anyone, the key fact to bear in mind is that Rudy was not simply pursuing and implementing tough gun control in NYC or even New York State, but rather was pushing hard for tough FEDERAL gun control. He should not be able to weasel out of this flip by saying that NYC needed it, but that he believes "what's right for New York might not be right for other states" (paraphrasing) and that he believes so strongly in federalism on this issue and others. It is indeed a total flip on the issue of FEDERAL gun control.
I like Rudy (a close second to McCain in my book), but I have to call him out on this one. He's also flipped on the abortion issue in every way but rhetoric (he's nominally pro-choice, but operationally pro-life).
Pro-Guiliani folks obviously don't have much to say on this one, eh?
This is the ultimate deal breaker for me, followed by Abortion.
If he continued his aggressive Anti-gun actions as President the 2nd Amendment could take a serious hit via executive order, BATF actions and failure to follow through on appointing strict constructionist judge to the bench.
Conservatives would face the prospect of bringing the adminsitration to court to fight anti-gun activities by Fedral agencies.
A Nation whose people can no longer defend themselves and who will not defend the defenseless can not long survive. Sorry Rudy, I'm sure you are a nice guy, but I cannot vote for you.