NEW YORK - In the political shootout over gun laws, Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg manage to fire a lot of shots without hitting each other.

Days ago, Giuliani addressed the National Rifle Association and said he supports a measure that blocks access to aggregate gun trace data, a law that his successor, Bloomberg, has long been targeting for repeal.

On Monday, Bloomberg sidestepped a chance to criticize Giuliani but said the measure, known as the Tiahrt amendment, is “something that is not in the interests of people who want to be safe in this country.”

“It's an outrage,” he added.

Since last year, Bloomberg has headed his own national campaign against guns, which has earned him the honor of being the NRA's enemy No. 1. The effort includes his repeated, but unsuccessful, attempts to strip the Tiahrt amendment from federal appropriations legislation.

Bloomberg argues that the measure makes it difficult for local law enforcement agencies, such as the New York Police Department, to trace illegal guns and go after the worst dealers.

The measure's supporters, now including Giuliani, say it protects the privacy of gun owners as well as the police because that aggregate information could end up in the wrong hands.

Giuliani, who was an outspoken gun control supporter during his eight years as mayor, on Friday said the Tiahrt amendment is “a sensible provision.”

He apparently got up to speed on the amendment overnight last week. On Thursday, Giuliani was asked at a news conference in Northern Virginia if he wanted to roll back the Tiahrt Amendment. He said he didn't know about the measure.

“That's one I'd have to look at,” he said. “I'm not aware. I'd have to go look at the details of that amendment. I'd have to go look at it and see what it does, what kind of hindrance it creates.”

The Republican presidential candidate said law enforcement could still get information, and he pointed out that some authorities are comfortable with it. The National Fraternal Order of Police has said it supports the measure.

Also during his appearance before the NRA, where he was trying to win over conservatives, Giuliani backed away from the lawsuit he initiated as mayor against the gun industry that argued manufacturers and distributors made it too easy for criminals to get guns.

The Bloomberg administration is still arguing the case; lawyers from the city's law department were in federal court on Friday as Giuliani addressed the NRA.

The lawsuit, Giuliani said, “has gone in a direction that I probably don't agree with at this point.”

He said he backed it years ago because, as mayor, he was taking advantage of any opportunity he had to crack down on crime.

“I was excessive in every way that I could think of in order to reduce crime,” he said.

Giuliani said he believes the best way to prevent such crimes is to enforce existing gun laws, not create new ones.

It is a line of reasoning that Bloomberg detests from gun advocates.

“You can't have it both ways,” he said Monday. “You can't say this should be left to localities and then have a federal law that doesn't give any information.”