One of several similar emails:

“Derb—I have no idea if the sacking of Zumbo was fair. From the sound of it, he may have gotten a raw deal. Your larger point is supported by this incident. As a gun owner, hunter and sportsman, I have zero patience with gun grabbers. All of my friends who hunt or shoot feel the same way. The argument is over and only the devious or insane support gun control.
“That means we don’t vote for the devious or insane – ever.
“Rudy has a chance with folks like me, but he has to drop the gun grabbing stuff and get on the winning team, as they say. Otherwise, I’ll vote for the Mormon.”

[Derb] I think there are things that, as a city kid, Rudy might not appreciate. He’d do well to be open-minded about this, and perhaps submit to some education. Have some prominent Second Amendment-supporting Republican (**NOT** Dick Cheney) take him on a hunting trip, from which Rudy comes back enthusing–a convert! I’m not saying he should be insincere & Clintonesque about it. A well-organized hunting trip **is** something you’d enthuse about, unless you are a hopeless bookworm. Rudy’s 9/11 responses suggest there’s a man of action in there somewhere. Teddy Roosevelt was born in NYC too…

He could try some such escape hatch as: “Growing up in the city, it seemed to me that guns were what criminals had…” Although, given certain facts about Rudy’s family background, this would have to be done v–e–r–y carefully…