The Right to Hunt in Montana: Rudy Giuliani's Narrow Reading of the Second Amendment

In addition to these explicit forms of national gun control, Giuliani sought to impose restrictions throughout the country indirectly by filing a lawsuit that blames firearm manufacturers and distributors for criminal use of their products. The suit demands changes in the way guns are made and sold that would affect their cost and availability nationwide.

Giuliani explained the rationale for the lawsuit during a June 2000 radio show: "We are dealing with a problem that is foisted on the city by the rest of the country 95 percent of the guns in New York City can be traced to someplace outside the city A lot of the problems in New York City are caused by very, very lax regulations outside the city." So much for letting each city or state go its own way on gun control.

Giuliani also made a revealing comment when he accused gun manufacturers of knowingly supplying criminals by "overproducing guns, way beyond the number that's necessary for hunting and for law enforcement." For Giuliani, it seems, hunting is the only legitimate use of guns for people who are not police officers. Presumably that is what he imagines folks in "Mississippi or Montana" are doing with their guns, while law-abiding New Yorkers are disarmed in the name of fighting crime.