Sept. 20, 2007
Giuliani Will "Clarify" Views To NRA
Presidential Hopeful Seeks To Improve Contentious Relationship With Gun Group
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Republican presidential candidate and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani answers questions in London, Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2007. (AP)
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Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani said Thursday that he hopes to "clarify” his views on the right to bear arms when he speaks to the National Rifle Association on Friday.
The former New York City mayor is to address the NRA at its “Celebration of American Values” conference in Washington. Other presidential hopefuls on the speaker list include Sen. John McCain, Fred Thompson, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richarson, Mike Huckabee and Newt Gingrich.
"There are certain agreements and disagreements with every single group," noted Giuliani, talking about the event with reporters in Reston, Va. "When I go before the NRA, I'm going to try to emphasize areas I think in which there is a great deal of agreement. And as I have said many, many times, my 80 percent friend is not my 20 percent enemy."
He says his main focus in Friday's speech will be to emphasize making gun laws a local decision, not a federal one.
The NRA and Giuliani haven’t been close in the past. They butted heads while Giuliani was mayor on topics as diverse as Giuliani’s gun control legislation and the attempted opening of an NRA café in Times Square.
In 1994, the group criticized Giuliani’s significant role in the enactment of major federal anti-crime legislation -- for which Giuliani was thanked by President Bill Clinton -- which made it harder for felons to purchase firearms.
The NRA's chief lobbyist, Chris Cox, said that while members will welcome Giuliani to share his views, his record will not be ignored when it’s time to make their endorsement, which is likely to come after primaries have determined the Republican nominee.
"There's no such thing as a clean slate," Cox told CBS News. "The NRA will certainly weigh in past positions and statements."
Giuliani regularly points to the historic drop in New York City crime while he was mayor and has said the change in gun laws was pivotal to the city's efforts.
Some gun-control advocates say the NRA conference is an opportunity for Giuliani to display leadership.
"We hope he will change the way the NRA thinks about gun laws," says Paul Helmke, the president of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Helmke, the former mayor of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, stood just a few feet away from Giuliani when Clinton signed the 1994 crime bill.
"Mayor Giuliani is not an extremist like some in the NRA," Helmke says. "He knows after 9/11, we shouldn't allow people on the terrorism watch list to buy guns -- right now they can do that. This event is the perfect platform for him to show where there should be exceptions."
While Friday’s reception might not be especially warm for Giuliani, political analyst Stuart Rothenberg says it’s better for him to be there than not.
“He’s got to go to traditional Republicans like gun owners,” says Rothenberg. “If he didn’t go, the NRA could see it as dissing them.”
And some gun owners think that despite Giuliani’s past views on guns, he still has a chance to win them over.
"Giuliani has a long, uphill road to convince people -- given his record -- that he is sincere about protecting the 2nd Amendment," says David Kopel, research director of the Independence Institute, a conservative think tank in Colorado and a lifetime member of the NRA. "Not every candidate needs an A, but if Giuliani can work himself to be seen as a B or a B minus, that would be progress for him."
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See all 67 Comments[In Giuliani''s clearest break from his mayoral record, he renounced the lawsuit that he ordered the city to file against gun makers in 2000. It was one of dozens of suits that state and local governments filed seeking millions in damages from gun manufacturers for what the plaintiffs said was reckless marketing.
"I think that lawsuit has gone in a direction that I probably don''t agree with at this point," Giuliani told several hundred gun-rights supporters at the conference. ]
"I probably don''t agree with at this point". Giuliani is pandering to the NRA and is outright lying in my opinion. He is -not- a conservative and never will be. Just look at his other stances before he changes them as well.
Peace,
-AA-
Those are my principles, and if you don''t like them... well, I have others.
http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Hillary_Clinton_Gun_Control.htm
The issue is control not outright banishment. My second reference is the 2nd amendment of the Bill of Rights.
"the right of the people to keep and bear arms."
Hilary could never "make all guns illegal" the president doesn''t have that kind of power anyway. It would literally take an act of congress to accomplish that. So relax, control is the issue not banishment.
For the rest of you, just look at the laws in New York to see what his views of private gun ownership are.
I urge all progressives who are not gun owners to get a gun and learn how to use it. Otherwise the born-again Geezis people may just mow you down when they think the Rapture is near and they can get away with it. Likewise the neocon "patriots" who think you''re traitors. I suggest a semi-auto AK-47--nice, reliable weapons.
I don''t believe you. I say you''re a liar. Back up your statement with a reference.
If someone came into my house to rob me I decidedly would NOT care to have a gun. I''m not one to give in to media fear-mongering and worry about this in the first place BUT I do know that if a man breaks into my house he most likely wants cash and merchandise(to think anything else is paranoid)so I say TAKE anything you want and leave. If I had a gun and he had a gun then what I will most likely cause is a gun fight. By doing that I will have endangered my family far more then letting them take my *** television.
"If we make the ownership of all guns illegal, just as we have done with cocaine, heroin, crack, etc., does that mean that no one will have them anymore, or just the wrong people?".
NOBODY is calling for the ownership of all guns to be illegal. That would be a direct violation of the second amendment. It''s gun control not gun banishment. We just don''t want Joe Whackjob to be able to purchase an assault rifle at the nearest Gun show.
One question I always ask of the anti-gunners is, "If we make the ownership of all guns illegal, just as we have done with cocaine, heroin, crack, etc., does that mean that no one will have them anymore, or just the wrong people?".
The Dems have taken a big chunk of the 1st amendment and have others in their sights, no pun intended. Get educated and do not be another sheep so easily lead to belive whatever they want to tell you. Find out for yourself, but not at the big media feed trough.
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Posted by cepe10
You speak like a truly uninformed, bombastic, sheep lover being led to moronville. Get a grip, read a book or two, stop collecting unemployment and get a job so you can buy a clue. Check out what the NRA really does before you make any more of a fool of yourself.
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Posted by cepe10
You speak like a truly uninformed, bombastic, sheep lover being led to moronville. Get a grip, read a book or two, stop collecting unemployment and get a job so you can buy a clue. Check out what the NRA really does before you make any more of a fool of yourself.
It is 1 in the morning. You hear some noise in the house and upon entering the hall you see the shadows of two men entering you 8 year old daughter''s room. What are you going to do? Call the police and hope they get there in time to save your daughter? Go after the two men yourself? Wish you had that terrible gun now don''t you.
When guns are harder to get, the criminal will still have them, and those who make your gun illegal will still have someone protecting them who has one. Why cant you have one too?
Clinton, the female one, said if she could get the votes she would make all guns illegal, well all the guns except those guns owned by the people who protect her and the other privledged people. Why should she get more protection than you or I?
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Posted by SFTodd
No, you simple uninformed believer in stupidity.
If you do your homework you will find that the NRA has financed and fought many court cases to get back the 1st amendment rights that have been taken by the democrats Shumer, Feinstein and Clinton. It used to be that you would be a criminal if you made your opinion known about a person running for office if done within 90 days of an election. This was fought in large part by the NRA and reversed only recently. You did not know that becasue you only pay attention to the biased media. So get offf your sofa and get a grip on realilty.
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