Holding Guiliani to His Record

This is from Of Arms and the Law. Don Kates emails to point out el-Duce's failings on the Second Amendment. He gives a brief analysis that I'll quote in full.

An email from Don Kates:

Throughout his political career Bill Clinton’s "position on the Second Amendment" was a bald-faced lie. Every time the subject arose he falsely proclaimed his "belief in the Second Amendment." Insofar as there was any truth in this scam, what Clinton meant was that he believed that the Second Amendment does not mean anything.

Rudy Giuliani employs the exact same scam in the exact same way by proclaiming that he believes in the Second Amendment. By carefully reviewing his assertions in the context of his record it is possible to ferret out his real beliefs and intended program. He believes that people living in low crime areas may be allowed (as a privilege, not a right) to have guns for sport. But no one other than public employees and the politically powerful has a right to possess firearms for self-defense. Worse yet, he believes the key to reducing crime consists of disarming everyone who believes in a right to possess arms for self-defense and who lives in an area where the incidence of crime is such that they have some likelihood of using arms for self-defense.

Giuliani is, in short, a paradigm Republican, i.e., someone who is dedicated to the interests of Big Business and for whom the rights of little people are, at best, easily dispensable in the interest of public safety (read Big Business).

If I were Sarah Brady faced with a contest between Hillary and Rudy I would vote for Rudy. Each wants to ban and confiscate guns. But it is far less likely that a Democrat could get away with trying to outlaw gun ownership than that Rudy could do so. Remember that Harry Truman could not end the Korean War, but Eisenhower could. And that no Democratic president could come to detente with Russia or China but Nixon could.

Frighteningly, this gives me pause on a vote for Hillary. If it's a choice between those two, I don't know what I'll do. Unless they can get el-Duce to vow not to touch any gun control legislation.