NSSF: Giuliani No Friend to Gun Owners

With all the hats being thrown into the ring for the upcoming presidential election, it’s important for those of us in the firearms industry to know where the candidates stand on "our issue." That issue prompted Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF senior vice president and general counsel, to issue the following statement on the candidacy of former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani: "In response to…

Giuliani’s filing of a statement of candidacy indicating that he would enter the 2008 presidential race as a Republican, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) reminds America’s sportsmen and gun-enthusiasts of the former mayor’s record of hostility toward firearms and gun owners. Recent remarks indicate the mayor is attempting to camouflage his record on guns, Keane said.

In June of 2000, then-Mayor Giuliani became the lone Republican mayor to sue members of the firearms industry as part of a wave of lawsuits that began in the late 1990s by major cities like Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and San Francisco that sought to hold firearms manufacturers responsible for the criminal misuse of firearms. The Giuliani lawsuit is still pending and is still being aggressively pursued by current New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Moreover, Giuliani strongly opposed legislation blocking lawsuits like the one he filed against members of the firearms industry. In 2005, President Bush signed legislation into law that barred such lawsuits after Congress, by abroad bipartisan margin, passed the bill.

During the debate in Congress, the Giuliani lawsuit was specifically referred to as an example of the kind of "junk lawsuit" the law is intended to stop. "Giuliani’s lawsuit may have gained him praise in Gotham, but will surely handicap him in the rest of the country," predicted Keane. More recently Giuliani’s campaign has flipped-flopped on the question of his longstanding support for restoring the Clinton-era ban on some semi-automatic rifles based on cosmetic appearance.

According to The New York Post, Giuliani’s political operative in New Hampshire, Wayne Semprini, "has been telling voters that the…exmayor…won’t support federal assault-weapons bans, as he has in the past." All the while, Anthony Carbonetti, Giuliani’s top advisor, has been telling New Yorkers that "the mayor’s position on this [the assaultweapons ban] has not changed." Commenting on this equivocation, Keane said: "You can’t pretend to be a supporter of gun-owners in New Hampshire when you tried to sue the firearms industry out of existence in New York. "Well put, Mr.

Keane," is what I say.