Rudy on Guns

Much like Ed Rendell, Rudy Giuliani is another big city politician, who has ambitions for higher office, trying to convince us that he won’t infringe upon our second amendment rights, except for, you know, where it’s reasonable to infringe upon them. Let’s see what Rudy has had to say about guns in the past:

“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.” – Boston Globe, p. A4 Mar 21, 2000

“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.”

“This is an industry that is profiting from the suffering of innocent people. 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.”

“The more guns you take out of society, the more you are going to reduce murder. The less you take out of society, the more it is going to go up.”

“Someone who now voted to roll back the assault-weapons ban would really be demonstrating that special interest politics mean more to them than life-or-death issues.”

“I’m in favor of gun control.”

But now that he needs our votes?

“It’s part of the constitution. People have the right to bear arms. Then restrictions have to be reasonable and sensible. You can’t just remove that right. You got to regulate consistent with the second amendment.”

And which part of “shall not be infringed” is unclear? I don’t need a license to start up a blog, because you don’t license or regulate a right. Giuliani is dancing around the issue, and it’s not impressing me. I think there are ways Giuliani could shed this liability, but I’m not buying the way he’s going about it.