Guns Didn't Always Top Emanuel's Agenda

By Caroline O'Donovan in News on Jan 6, 2013 4:00PM

It seems pretty safe to say that Rahm Emanuel probably doesn’t want people to be able to buy assault weapons in Illinois.

But as CBS pointed out, the issue hasn’t always been at the top of his agenda. In fact, according to Daniel Klaidman, author of the book Kill or Capture, Emanuel might once have told Eric Holder to take his assault weapons ban and put it you know where.

“Emanuel was furious. He slammed his desk and cursed the attorney general. Holder was only repeating a position Obama had expressed during the campaign, but that was before the White House needed the backing of pro-gun Democrats from red states for their domestic agenda. The chief of staff sent word back to Justice that Holder needed to “shut the fuck up” on guns.”

But time and patience is all! Having spent four, undoubtedly painful years of silence on the assault weapons ban issue, Mayor Emanuel has finally hit on the moment to make his feelings known:

“In order to protect our children, our families and our communities, we need common-sense laws that provide the residents of our cities with the safety they deserve,” said Mayor Emanuel. “I commend the members of the Public Health Committee of the Illinois Senate for approving gun-control legislation that restricts high-capacity magazines and assault weapons designed for battlefields and not America’s streets.”

Emanuel told CBS that the politics of gun law are particularly tricky on the national level, but said that after a tragedy like the Newton, CT school shooting, "You can't take an event like this and say the status quo stays in place.”