Assault Rifles for Hunters? (Zumbo goes mad)

Remington Country website ^ | 16 FEB 2007 | Jim Zumbo

[xsrdx]

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.

[Terriergal]

Cyrano made a remark about a good comment on his blog where he's getting bigtime bad feedback. Someone suggested that if he's worried about offending people and making hunters look bad he should not be OK with the "Racks" calendar thing. Frankly I am not ok with that particular thing, the last thing I want guys to be thinking about in the woods when they run into me is what kind of 'rack' I have, and I suspect many woman hunters are the same. (even those who have more to show off). They are dead serious about hunting and don't want to be looked at as 'objects' in the field.

However, Zumbo is trampling on the 2nd amendment with this issue. Owning these weapons has nothing to do with hunting whatsoever. If people choose to use them for hunting, that is totally incidental. At one point the most advanced weapons that were used on the battlefield were also the person's hunting arm. What's the difference? Now we STILL use those weapons for hunting, along with those firearms of newer technology.

[Gritty]

Amendment II

A well regulated Militia hunting party being necessary to the security of a free State look good to clueless Liberals and Soccermoms, the right licensed privilege of the snobbish people to keep correctly store and bear expensive bolt action rifles and other nonthreatening looking Firearms shall not be infringed unless they intimidate "sensitive" people.

There. Maybe that will make the likes of Jim Zumbo and his high-end hunting buddies happy...

[Terriergal]

That sounds like a good start from Remington. It's not enough, but it's a start.

[LibertarianInExile]

"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.'"

What is my Norinco MAK-90 if it's not a highly portable rifle that I can use for self-defense AND hunting? Oh, right, an assault weapon, I guess I forgot the proper Newspeak. Just another reason to skip Outdoor Life.

[blackie]

What a brainless jerk this Zumbo is ~ the 2nd Amendment isn't about hunting, it's about the Right to Keep and Bear Arms!

[04-Bravo]

If Remington is one of his big sponsors, I think Zumbo just bit one of the hands that feeds him. The original ArmaLite AR-15 was chambered for a varmint-hunting round, the .223 REMINGTON.

[Sender]

Yet in many parts of Europe, hunters can buy a silencer at the hardware store, it's considered civilized not to make noise.

[Erik Latranyi]

What do they do? Stand over the hole and blast the buggers out with sustained automatic fire?

The beauty of hunting prairie dogs with an accurized AR-15 style rifle is that you can see your impacts through the scope and you have the ability to administer a follow-up shot.

[xsrdx]

What makes me sick is how quickly people on the Internet have called to boycott Remington.

Looks like the intended affect was achieved. I expected no less from Remington, they are and have been staunch RKBA advocates.

Nice to see companies rushing to distance themselves from this nut.

[Terriergal]

I wonder what Mr Dumbo will say when they refer to his scoped rifle as a "high powered sniper rifle" ?

LOL that's, of course, exactly what it is!

I get so tired of these people who are supposed to be 'on our side' turning tail and running with the libs, giving aid and comfort to our enemy.

[RJL]

Nice to see companies rushing to distance themselves from this nut.

Yes, from the last line in their statement it sounds like it will most likely be quick and permanent.

Remington does not agree with Zumbo in any way shape or form and we will assess our relationship with him accordingly.

[Rockpile]

Y'all might take notice that Outdoor Life is a subsidiary of Time-Warner. Fundamentally, we might consider Mr. Zumbo gets his paycheck from Time Magazine and this commentary is merely a display of abject crouching at the feet of his betters. Perhaps he feels that a bit of lickspittle ass-kissing may bring him future benefit.

http://www.timewarner.com/corp/businesses/detail/time_inc/index.html

[mad_as_he$$]

I hunt coyote with an AR, a Mini-14 or a Sako 7mmRem Mag. depending on terrain and or setup.

This dumba$$ must not be one of those "the hunt is the reward" guys. When hunting coyote I often have 5-7 in the field of fire. If I had to stop and reload the body count would go down. Hunting big game is different. Hunting Coyotes is extermination of vermin. I see no difference from when we were kids and killed rats at the dump with a Nylon 66 - just as fast ans a many as we could.

[xsrdx]

If you check his blog he is getting negitive comments several times a minute. By tomorrow the will be many thousand.

The blog comments are priceless. His other entries have 20, 30 comments - this baby has over 2000 and counting.

Jim's gonna have a rough Monday back at work I'll bet. His phone has to be ringing off the hook.

[Atlas Sneezed]

What makes me sick is how quickly people on the Internet have called to boycott Remington. -Remington CEO

---

Well, Tommy, it worked. The hard-line, tough-s*** tactics we 2nd Amendment defenders forced you out on the record, to take a real stand. Would you have distanced yourself from moron Zumbo otherwise? Would Zumbo be struggling a little more before he gets perks and gigs from you if we had not struck fear into your heart? I think not.

[Terriergal]

I'm sitting here trying to figure out why he is OK with Remington developing new weapons e.g. the .17 cal with all its advantages for varminting... etc. Why, his .270 or .243 or whatever he's used in the past wasn't good enough? Seems like most people have been doing fine without the .17 cal for some time, why don't they just continue with older weapons? Hmmm me detects a little cognitive dissonance here... Zumbo is a hypocrite. Maybe he should just tell us all to spraypaint our AR's hunter orange so that people can tell they aren't assault weapons. Or maybe all hunting weapons should be a nice lavender/pink so that we know for sure they aren't terrorists that are using them.

If I recall, the last weapons terrorists used against us were airplanes. And our military carries 'terrorist weapons. I guess that makes them 'look like terrorists' too to him. Maybe they should carry a bouquet of roses and a box of chocolates?


AAAAAUGH!!! /end rant

[Terriergal]

What makes me sick is how quickly people on the Internet have called to boycott Remington. -Remington CEO

That's why I call his response a 'start' - it is still a big old WHINE directed at those who by free choice keep their company in the black. I think we free-market patrons really deserve a little more respect.

[MarkL]

I'd like to remind Zumbo that the AR-15 is the civilian version of our current military service rifle. I wonder just how many M-1 Garrand and M-14 semi-autos are used for hunting. Does he object to them as well? Should we ban the use of military caliber ammunition for hunting, like they have in Mexico? Wow, you know what? That would ban the use of a caliber developed by his employer, Remington, for the civilian hunting market! Yup, the .223 Remington, the cartridge used in the AR-15, is also used in quite a few other firearms, many sold by, you guessed it, his employer, Remington arms.

Mark

[Eska]

Seriously, in rural alaska, mini-14 is standard gun for caribou. I put a team sling on my preban AR and that's what I carry on my snowmachine, even (say it aint so) when I ride up into canada. Trouble is everything hears ya coming on the skandic. In the summer, I usually have 45-70 on 4wheeler or mini-14 in boat. This is what caribou hunting consists of in winter up here; shoot and load.

[Terriergal]

Yet in many parts of Europe, hunters can buy a silencer at the hardware store, it's considered civilized not to make noise.

Like in NZ, where hunting is open year round and they have no animal shortages... or do they, shaggy?

If only it were that way in the US.