You know, pols like Rudy and Mitt generally find themselves in a bit of a tight spot when they try to go national. Gun Control is pretty damned popular in the urban areas of NY and MA - just look at who they elected for Senators (Schumer, Clinton, Kerry, and Better Red than Dead Ted). When Schumer was in the House, he generally got something like 80+ percent of the popular vote, and if anything, he acted even more anti-gun there. The popularity of gun control in urban areas is probably a combination of being media driven and fewer people there owning guns. I don't know completely, though, since I don't live in a big urban area. There does seem to be a tendency in urban areas for people to become more and more reliant upon the government to take care of them and do things for them, though.

However, gun control isn't very popular at all in the Fly Over Country where people are generally more independent and generally less reliant upon government services. And so you get ridiculous spectacles like Kerry going hunting, Mitt claiming to be a life-long hunter, and Rudy squirming around in a speech in front of the NRA. At least Richardson is being fairly consistent - but it was easy for him to be pretty pro-RKBA in/from NM and nobody gave a shit about his 2nd Amendment views when he was Secretary of Energy.

Check out this youtube video of Rudy. Clearly he believes in gun control. Its from the Charlie Rose show back in 1995.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ99sBfdqE0