Giuliani Will "Clarify" Views To NRA
This story was written by CBS News' Ryan Corsaro and Michelle Levi.
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."