From a reader:

Jonah, there’s no bigger Rudy fan than me, but I’m sorry to say that you’re right when you say this: “I don’t think Giuliani is plausible as a states’ rights-laboratories of democracy kind of guy. He was federal prosecutor and has a G-man sensibility.” Check this out from NYC’s archives (http://www.nyc.gov/html/records/rwg/html/2000a/weekly/wkly0626.html). Here, Rudy’s promoting his lawsuit against gun manufacturers. His chief argument, you’ll notice, is that NYC needs some relief from guns being transported into the City from more permissive jurisdictions. Here’s what he says: “[The NYPD’s] job of keeping New York safe is made considerably more difficult because of less restrictive guns laws in other parts of the nation and because of the illegal and immoral practices of the gun industry. This lawsuit is an aggressive step towards restoring accountability to an industry that profits from the suffering of others.” This is not the rhetoric of a man who can plausibly claim that he’s all for federalism in the context of gun rights. Rudy really needs to get ahead of this issue. If he flip-flops on anything, it’ll have to be on guns. Yours, A Reader