Giuliani campaigning in Iowa this weekend.Photo: Getty Images
One of the unpleasant side effects of the Virginia Tech tragedy is that every presidential candidate is scrambling to reiterate his stance on gun control. In Rudy Giuliani’s eyes, per the ex-mayor’s campaign statement, the massacre “does not alter the Second Amendment.” Funny thing, though: As the Politico’s Jonathan Martin notes today, with a YouTube clip to back him up, Old Rudy used to argue for federal firearm regulation. Giuliani’s big idea — one he’s been pushing, in his own words, “since at least 1980” — is to treat gun licenses like driver’s licenses: to institute a written test and a physical test (for marksmanship?) under a federal law, with state-specific tweaks here and there. Leave it to Rudy to sidle up to the my-cold-dead-hands base at the moment when even some gun-loving Virginians are doubting their beliefs in the wake of a senseless bloodbath. Oh, Rudy: They still won’t like you, and now you’ll hate yourself too.
Rudy No Longer Interested in Federal Mandate on Handguns [Politico]
