Friday - February 23, 2007

How to end a career in one short day

Jim Zumbo had it all.  A long career as a hunting writer, sponsors, free trips to hunt, equipment, all of it.  He threw it away in one short blog post, showing the world that second amendment supporters are more than just hunters.

What did he do exactly?  Here is his blog post from last weekend: (since removed)

“As I write this, I’m hunting coyotes in southeastern Wyoming with Eddie Stevenson, PR Manager for Remington Arms, Greg Dennison, who is senior research engineer for Remington, and several writers. We’re testing Remington’s brand new .17 cal Spitfire bullet on coyotes.

I must be living in a vacuum. The guides on our hunt tell me that the use of AR and AK rifles have a rapidly growing following among hunters, especially prairie dog hunters. I had no clue. Only once in my life have I ever seen anyone using one of these firearms.

I call them “assault” rifles, which may upset some people. Excuse me, maybe I’m a traditionalist, but I see no place for these weapons among our hunting fraternity. I’ll go so far as to call them “terrorist” rifles. They tell me that some companies are producing assault rifles that are “tackdrivers.”

Sorry, folks, in my humble opinion, these things have no place in hunting. We don’t need to be lumped into the group of people who terrorize the world with them, which is an obvious concern. I’ve always been comfortable with the statement that hunters don’t use assault rifles. We’ve always been proud of our “sporting firearms.”

This really has me concerned. As hunters, we don’t need the image of walking around the woods carrying one of these weapons. To most of the public, an assault rifle is a terrifying thing. Let’s divorce ourselves from them. I say game departments should ban them from the praries and woods.”

[emphasis mine-ed.]

For the less-nuanced among us, you may not find anything terribly wrong with Jimbo’s comment.  We, the second amendment supporters, though take great exception with his declaration that an AR-15 is a “terrorist rifle”.  Did he realize that outside of his hunting fraternity, there are tens of thousands of good, law-abiding people who actually use AR and AK rifles for fun, sport and personal protection?  No, he didn’t.....until the letters started pouring in.

First his employer, Outdoor Life, took a stand.

Outdoor Life And Jim Zumbo Part Ways
By Todd. W. Smith
Editor-in-Chief

Outdoor Life magazine Editor-in-Chief Todd Smith released the following statement today regarding writer Jim Zumbo:

February 2007

In light of comments made by Jim Zumbo in his February 16, 2007 blog posting on the magazine’s website, Mr. Zumbo has offered to terminate his association with Outdoor Life, and the magazine has accepted his offer. Accordingly, he will no longer be contributing to the magazine in print or online. His final column with Outdoor Life will appear in the April 2007 issue, which has already gone to press.

We respect Mr. Zumbo’s First Amendment right to free speech, and we acknowledge his subsequent apology and admission of error. However, Outdoor Life has always been, and will always be, a steadfast supporter of all aspects of the shooting sports and our Second Amendment rights, which do not make distinctions based on the appearance of the firearms we choose to own, shoot or hunt with.

We regret this turn of events, as Mr. Zumbo has been a good friend to this magazine and lifelong advocate for hunters and hunting rights.

We appreciate the comments we’ve received from our loyal readers about this matter and encourage them to continue to correspond with us.

Then, when the sponsors realized they were going to be the target of the ire of the shooting world, they quickly disassociated themselves with him.  Remington, Cabellas and others have already canceled their contracts with Zumbo.

How did Jim respond?  With a tart “apology” claiming he was tired.  Too bad. 

Tired or not, he showed us his true stripes.  That as long as he and his “hunting fraternity” can use their long rifles and shotguns, he is perfectly fine restricting the gun rights of everyone else. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a hunter and a sportsman as well, but I am a defender of our constitution....all of it...first.

******* Update ********

Jim Zumbo Finnaly gets it.  After two false starts at an apology, Zumbo finally gets it right.
From Ted Nugent’s forum:

Thank you all for letting me speak. Yes, I know the 2nd Amendment has nothing to do with hunting and hunting guns, and yes, I promise you I am now dedicated to educate all shooters that we must all stick together regardless of our gun choices, and also tolerate the firearms others may choose to use if they are dissimilar to ours. I will do everything I can, within my power as a journalist and public speaker, to protect the 2nd Amendment and America’s gun owners.

Yes, Jim Zumbo, if he is honest, and I think he is, finally understands why the outrage was all pointed at him with both barrels

Posted by Drew458     on 02/23/2007 at 12:46 PM   
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