Guns and Rudy - The Whole Story

12:10am Tuesday, June 05, 2007

...'I only hope that [Bill Clinton] is right, and that Congress is finally ready to recognize that the vast majority of Americans want more gun control. It makes sense. It is time. And we can no longer let special interests dominate this vitally important issue.' - Rudy Giuliani, 1997

By Michael Gaynor

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has dressed up as a woman on several occasions, but he never had a sex change operation. He was posing, in order to please an audience. Posing is something Rudy does. He poses as a person who hates abortion, in an effort to make his pro-abortion position more palatable to pro-lifers. He poses as a Second Amendment supporter while suing the gun industry, to please those displeased with the Second Amendement right to bear arms.

As the only pro-abortion advocate in the large field of Republican presidential hopefuls, announced (ten) and unannounced (at least two), former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani should be expected to top the polls now. However, a recent poll showed Rudy as the great favorite of gun owners. What does that signify? That gun owners know what everyone knows--that Rudy was New York City's Mayor on September 11, 2001 and opposes terror and crime...AND DON'T KNOW WHAT HIS ATTITUDE TOWARD THE SECOND AMENDMENT AND GUNS WAS WHEN HE WAS MAYOR.

Abraham Lincoln was a wise man. Among his astute observations:

(1) "Important principles may and must be inflexible."

(2) "Human nature will not change. In any future great national trial, compared with the men of this, we shall have as weak and as strong, as silly and as wise, as bad and as good."

(3) "It has long been a grave question whether any government, not too strong for the liberties of its people, can be strong enough to maintain its existence in great emergencies."

(4) "It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."

(5) "If you call a tail a leg, how many legs has a dog? Five? No, calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg."

Republican presidential aspirant Rudy Giuliani does not make himself a conservative by calling himself one. He does make himself pro-life by claiming to hate abortion when he has supported it as a permissible choice since he first ran for public office. And he does not make himself a legitimate champion of gun owners by ignoring his anti-gun history and hoping gun owners won't learn about it.

From http://www.joinrudy2008.com:

Rudy Giuliani is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. When he was Mayor of a city suffering an average of almost 2000 murders a year, he protected people by getting illegal handguns out of the hands of criminals. As a result, shootings fell by 72% and the murder rate was cut by two-thirds. But Rudy understands that what works in New York doesn’t necessarily work in Mississippi or Montana.

Rudy as strong supporter of the Second Amendment? That's as phony as Rudy posing as abortion hater.

As Mayor, Rudy demanded UNIFORM national gun control laws.

See press release entitled "MAYOR GIULIANI ADDRESSES CITIZENS CRIME COMMISSION; CALLS FOR UNIFORM NATIONAL GUN CONTROL LAWS," March 6, 1997:

'Yesterday, President Clinton outlined his proposals for more stringent federal gun licensing requirements,' Mayor Giuliani said. 'His proposals include: prohibiting non-citizens from buying guns; requiring proof of residency, including a photo I.D. and a utility bill in the buyer's name; 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,' the Mayor continued. 'I only hope that he is right, and that Congress is finally ready to recognize that the vast majority of Americans want more gun control. It makes sense. It is time. And we can no longer let special interests dominate this vitally important issue.'

'We in New York and other places are working very hard to control crime and especially to reduce criminal incidents involving guns,' the Mayor pointed out. 'In New York City, we have seen more than a 50 percent decrease in shootings since 1993, but to complete the job we have started, we need the help of other states, and of the Federal government, to promulgate more rigorous gun purchasing requirements nationwide. Then we won't have 90 percent of our City's guns being brought in from other localities to commit heinous crimes like the tragedy at the Empire State Building.'

'I know many people argue that keeping and bearing arms is a federally guaranteed right as stated in the Second Amendment of the Constitution,' the Mayor said. 'But even in the Second Amendment, it refers to firearms in the context of a well regulated militia, and well regulated is what we are trying to accomplish. Just as unimpeded interstate travel is constitutionally guaranteed, we reserve the right to regulate who can or cannot drive an automobile. We must also sensibly regulate gun purchases to preserve the safety of all Americans.'

In his speech, the Mayor alluded to some compelling facts about where guns on New York streets come from.

"'A recently released study indicates that of 2,225 guns confiscated in New York City, more than 92 percent of the guns were originally purchased out of state and more than 60 percent of them came from five states -- Virginia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia,' the Mayor said. 'And when looking at the FBI Total Index Crimes List, which shows the number of crimes on a per capita basis for cities with a population of more than 100,000, it is not a coincidence that four of the top ten are in Florida, and six are in the South, where gun control laws are very lax. New York City, where requirements for purchasing a gun are much more rigorous, ranks 144th on that list.'

Here are other highlights of the Mayor's address:

'The man who committed this despicable act of hatred and violence on top of the Empire State Building came to the United States on December 24, 1996. First he arrived in New York and then traveled to Melbourne, Florida where he checked into a cheap motel. Using the hotel address, he was able to obtain a photo I.D. card, and that was all he needed to buy a gun -- a .380 Beretta, capable of firing 14 rounds in four or five seconds. Because in Florida, although they have relatively strict regulations to obtain a gun license, gun licenses are only necessary for carrying concealed weapons. A license is not required to buy a gun -- all that is required is a photo I.D. In private transactions, at gun shows, or when purchasing a gun from a private individual, there is nothing else required.'

'Ironically, if Mr. Hassan Kamal had wanted to buy a car, or even drive a car legally, he would not have been able to because in Florida obtaining a driver's license is much more difficult than buying a gun. In fact, getting a driver's license requires several forms of official identification proving residency. It requires a written test and a road test, and a thorough background investigation is done to determine if the applicant has a history of driving recklessly, or unlawfully. These driver's license requirements are fairly uniform from state to state, which demonstrates that from region to region, a vast majority of Americans accept that driving an automobile is potentially very dangerous and requires sensible regulations. However, guns kill many more people than automobiles do, even though there are many more cars than guns.'

'I think one of the reasons that the procedures for obtaining a driver's license and buying and operating a car have become uniform and sensible is that insurance is required for automobiles. The insurance industry has standardized what is necessary to get insurance. Cars must be registered and trackable. Cars are required to undergo periodic safety inspections in many states. Driving records are computerized and traceable and driver's licenses must be periodically renewed. Perhaps we should require insurance for handguns. If liability insurance were required to purchase and own a handgun, you better believe the insurance industry would promulgate a pretty rigorous licensing and purchasing process to control the risk.'

Second Amendment supporters, take note: Rudy called the right to bear arms an "argument," not a right, and Second Amendment supporters, not NARAL or Planned Parenthood, a "special interest" that endangers life!

Voters in Virginia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia, take note: your states are to blame for misuse of guns, especially in New York.

Rudy lauded NARAL, but sued gun manufacturers (but not automobile manufacturers, whose products, when misused, are deadly).

See "MAYOR GIULIANI AND SPEAKER VALLONE ANNOUNCE CITY LAWSUIT AGAINST GUN INDUSTRY," Release 238-00, June 20, 2000:

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.

Abe said it very well: "It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."

If gun owners stay fooled, they should blame themselves as well as Rudy.

This op-ed originally appeared in TheConservativeVoice.com. Republised with permission.

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