Category: Guns

Folks, I have to tell you, I think we have some real allies out there in the industry who are willing to go to bat for us. This from Cabela’s forums:

While Cabela’s believes everyone has the right to express their own opinions, we strongly disagree with Jim Zumbo’s February 16 posting on his Hunting with Jim Zumbo blog on Outdoor Life’s Web site.

Throughout our 46-year history, Cabela’s has firmly supported all aspects of shooting sports. We strongly support the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States and the right of every U.S. citizen to purchase, own and enjoy any legal firearm of their choosing.

While we fully support Mr. Zumbo’s First Amendment right of free speech, we believe his opinions on this matter are counter to those shared by Cabela’s and many of our customers. Cabela’s Legal Department is currently reviewing contractual obligations and commitments regarding our sponsorship of the Jim Zumbo Outdoors television show.

Wow. This on the heels of Remington severing ties is pretty serious. I think we all need to go to Cabela’s and buy some Remington ammunition or maybe a shotgun, or something, pronto.

I wrote a few days ago about not getting too worked up over McCarthy’s latest attempt at being a bitch, since the bill hasn’t even gotten any cosponsors yet. But there is an assault weapons ban out there we need to pay a lot of attention to. From Pro-Gun Progressive we have this out of Maryland [UPDATE – oops, forgot the link in the orignal post]:

Senate Bill 43, “Assault Weapon Ban of 2007,” sponsored by Senator Michael Lenett (D-19), will be heard by the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on Tuesday, February 27 at 1 P.M.

SB43 would designate specified firearms, including many semi-automatics as “assault weapons,” prohibit persons from transporting possessing, selling, offering to sell, transferring, or receiving a specified “assault weapon(s),” and require the Handgun Roster Board to compile and maintain a roster of prohibited specified “assault weapons.”

Maryland is an important battleground state. What I mean by that is that it’s a state that the anti-gun folks would dearly love to lock up and put firmly in their column, but it’s not quite there yet. The antis have, pretty solidly, CA, NJ, NY, and MA. They have a more tenuous foothold in IL, MD, CT, RI, and HI. IL and MD are the ones to watch out for though, because those are the two states that they are pushing hard to move into the “firmly anti-gun” column, and this assault weapons ban is meant to wrap it up for them there.

The demographics don’t favor us holding onto Maryland: it’s a suburb of DC and has Baltimore. The rest of the state can’t outvote the urban dwellers. In addition, Elrich is no longer there with his veto stamp. It’s important that Maryland not be given up without a fight though. If you live in Maryland, talk to the Maryland State Rifle and Pistol Association and see if there’s anything you can do to help out. At the very least, show up in Annapolis on the 27th.

This law is BAD. It’s worse than California’s ban in many ways. It’s important that it not be allowed to pass. For those of us outside of Maryland, it should be noticed that the law has no FOPA exception and demands the police seize and destroy any weapon they find on you. So once you get the charges dismissed in federal court, after spending some time in jail initially, you can kiss your rifle goodbye.

OK folks. Take a look at this, it’s the second Brady comment down:

Most non-hunters view scopes as automatic-hit devices that make shooting at any range a piece of cake. Why do you need a scope Mr. Zumbo? Your gentrified fore-bearers undoubtedly hunted without one. Perhaps you are too lazy or unskilled to stalk closer to your game. That statement has as much validity (I hope) as your comments about “terrorist” rifles and those who use them. Try to be a little more open minded and tolerant of your fellow hunters and shooters.

And Brady’s repsonse?

I certainly agree with your sentiments. There is no pressing need for optics that allow shooters to make sniper shots from over one hundred meters.

Posted by Brady Campaign on Sunday, February 18, 2007 at 2:11 PM

No, this is not about scary looking rifles. This is about much, much more. Jim, you have totally screwed us! I hope you realize now who the people are you’ve just empowered.

UPDATE: A lot of folks seem to think this might be an impostor, and not associated with the Bradys. I’m willing to accept that possibility. If the Bradys want to disavow themselves of this position, and the poster, I’ll happily print another update saying as much. Until then, you can assess for yourself the veracity of the poster and statement.

UPDATE 2: In the comments, you will note a Brady spokesperson state that this person is not speaking on behalf of their organization.

Jim Zumbo has apologized for his blog entry. I’m inclined to let bygones be bygones, but dude, you suggested we were terrorists! I exepct shit like that from the Brady’s and VPC, but not one of our own.

I’m willing to forgive, but I won’t forget. Once stuff like that gets out there, there’s really no calling it back. I have to agree with Michael Bane:

And how are you going to feel, Jim, when your words are read into the Congressional Record or used by Brady or the Violence Policy Center to continue to destroy our right to keep and bear arms?

Seriously. You think the Brady’s and VPC will care about the apology? No, they’ll happily quote the original blog post and make sure it gets in front of policy makers. You really can’t undo damage like this, and that’s why we have to be exceedingly careful about the things we say.

UPDATE:  Bitter reminds us that we have to remember we’re all responsible for getting the message out there.

I’m calling on everyone who has read the Zumbo article and has a subscription to Outdoor Life to cancel your subscription. At the least, make sure they know you’re really unhappy with the article.

We need hunters on our side, but hunters also need us. The hunting community has been shrinking, while the shooting community is growing. Neither of our communities will survive long term if we don’t stand together, and we have to make sure we don’t let people like Zumbo contribute to our downfall.

UPDATE: Outdoor life is distancing themselves from Zumbo’s statements. I’ll declare Mission Accomplished and call off the attack dogs on this matter.

UPDATE2: I noticed we’ve been linked by a lefty blog!  Welcome. A lot has happened since I posted this, and I encourage everyone coming here from SeaJane to take a look around and see what else I’m saying about the issue.  Decide for yourself whether I’m a nutty extremist being programmed by the NRA to destroy a man’s career.

Also, the NRA had nothing to do with the whole Zumbo thing.  They didn’t even get involved until after it was all over.

… if they already have my “assault weapon”, I’m not going to lift a god damned finger to help you.

[UPDATE (5:42): Looks like Unc basically said the same thing, but I didn’t look at his site until 2 minutes ago :)]

That’s my statement to hunters and outdoor writers like Jim Zumbo, who apparently have no issues with throwing people like me under the bus. Kevin Baker has a good fisking of Zumbo’s article here.

One thing Mr. Zumbo needs to understand is that this issue is not about banning scary looking rifles. Everyone who thinks that needs to read this.

The goal of the assault weapons ban is to weaken our community, reduce our numbers, reduce our political power, and eventually get our numbers down to the point where further restrictions on firearms are legally viable. Anyone who believes this is about public safety haven’t been paying close enough attention to the issue.

So, Mr. Zumbo, if you want to keep your highly accurate sniper rifle, I would suggest we stick together, or we’re all going to lose. You do us no favors by your willingness to throw other gun owners under the bus, because you think we make you look bad. We all look bad to the gun banners, and they won’t stop until you don’t have a gun to hunt with.

UPDATE: Bitter has some useful thoughts on the subject as well