Giuliani on Guns

Having muddied the waters on abortion, Rudy Giuliani is now reworking his gun control positions to avoid alienating conservative voters in the Republican primaries. Recently he has spoken approvingly of the federal appeals court decision striking down the D.C. gun ban, asserted his support for the right to bear arms, and endorsed a federalist approach to gun control under which different areas of the country would have different rules. When he was mayor of New York, by contrast, he advocated licensing for gun owners, avidly supported federal gun control measures such as the Brady Law and the "assault weapon" ban, blamed lax gun laws in other states for violent crime in New York City, and participated in litigation that aimed to impose national restrictions on the gun industry. Writing in Human Events, John Veleco, director of federal affairs at Gun Owners of America, questions the sincerity of Giuliani's conversion.