Guiliani Hostile to Gun Owners, Gun Rights Group Says http://(CNSNews.com) - With former Mayor Rudolph Guiliani's setting his sights on the White House in 2008, gun owners are criticizing his record on gun rights, saying he has a history of hostility towards firearms and gun-owners.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) noted that in June 2000, Guiliani became the only Republican mayor to sue the firearms industry during the series of lawsuits that began in the 1990s by cities seeking to hold gun manufacturers responsible for the criminal misuse of weapons.
"Recent remarks indicate the mayor is attempting to camouflage his record on guns - a political maneuver now common for politicians seeking national office," Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF senior vice president and general counsel, said in a statement.
Guiliani was also against legislation blocking such lawsuits against members of the gun industry. And in 2005, President Bush signed into law a bill that banned such lawsuits.
"Giuliani's lawsuit may have gained him praise in Gotham, but will surely handicap him in the rest of the country, particularly during the southern primaries," Keane predicted.
"You can't pretend to be a supporter of sportsmen and gun-owners in New Hampshire when you tried to sue the firearms industry out of existence in New York.
Other politicians learned the hard way that sportsmen and gun-owners are a well-informed and highly motivated voting bloc," said Keane. "Former President Clinton in his memoirs admitted the gun issue cost Al Gore the White House, and Senator Kerry's ill-fated goose hunt cooked his presidential aspirations in 2004," he concluded.
Guiliani Hostile to Gun Owners, Gun Rights Group Says