Don't worry, Shaun--I think he's on your side (I sure don't plan to claim him)

Shaun Mullen apparently believes that Rudy Giuliani has let him down. According to Shaun, Rudy has abandoned his civilian disarming ways (I wish I could agree with that).

Allowing that times change and minds occasionally do too, hypocrite is a much overused word in the political lexicon.

But it is difficult to not tar presidential wannabe Rudy Giuliani with that label because of his mad dash from being a darling of gun control advocates to a suck-up to the anti-gun control crowd that dominates the Republican Party.

Hmm--maybe I haven't paid sufficiently close attention, but I've missed Rudy's "mad dash" away from the freedom hating crowd, and if he wants to be a "suck-up to the anti-gun control crowd," he is certainly keeping it a secret--even from the people to whom he supposedly wants to be a "suck-up." One would think that "sucking-up" without making the suck-upee aware of the fact is something of a wasted endeavor.

New York’s tough gun-control laws are a big reason that the Big Apple has gone from being a crime-ridden urban wasteland in the 1980s to a remarkably safe place with one of the lowest big-city murder rates . . .

And the improving economy, the greater police presence, etc. had little to do with the improvement. It certainly is strange that Chicago and Washington DC, with even more insanely draconian restrictions on private gun ownership, have been sewers of violent crime the entire time.

I have nothing against personal possession of a limited number of firearms in one’s castle (ie., a man’s home is his castle), but too many states have pitifully weak firearm laws that pretty much allow people to buy and have as many guns as they want . . .

I suppose I should be grateful that you're kind enough to let me have a "limited number" of firearms (come to think of it, ten thousand is a number, and it's not unlimited)--I have little doubt you'll be able to show me the "limited number of arms" that the Second Amendment says the people have the right to keep and bear--I can't seem to find that part in my copy.

Worst yet, Giuliani has gone weak in the knees over support of the most sensible of control-control legislation — an assault weapons ban.

Sensible if you like a government monopoly on the use of force, I suppose.

It's funny, Giuliani's reticence about "assault weapon" bans leaves you unwilling to trust that he'll support one, but it (along with his history) leaves me utterly unwilling to trust him not to. He might have more trouble with voters than the conventional wisdom suspects.