Gee, I guess he flip flopped on this issue. He sure didn’t believe NYC residents had the right to own firearms and protect themselves. What a putz, I wouldn’t vote for this guy for dog catcher let alone President.
He knew it was impossible for anyone to get elected in NYC without championing the cause of “more gun control”. It’s pathetic, but that’s the position of about 99% of NYC voters. As a result the law-abiding among them wouldn’t arm themselves anyway, even if the state and local laws explicitly allowed them to. When a population has that kind of mindset, the prospect that “only the criminals will have guns” isn’t dependent on the gun laws, it’s a foregone conclusion regardless of the gun laws. Over the long term, that mindset is changeable, but not in the time frame of any political office term.