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NRA's bully tactics to silence differing views is shameful [Barf Alert]
Walla-Walla Union-Bulletin (WA) ^ | 2/27/07 | n/a

Posted on 02/28/2007 8:37:05 AM PST by kiriath_jearim

This should be a warning to NRA members. The organization turns on loyal members if they dare question NRA policy or speak their minds.

By the Editorial Board of the Union-Bullein

The leaders of the National Rifle Association are so obsessed with the perceived threat to the Second Amendment's right to keep and bear arms that they won't tolerate anyone who strays from NRA doctrine - even if it's one of the NRA's most famous and loyal members.

Jim Zumbo, a 40-year NRA member, has made a name for himself as host of a TV show about big game hunting in the West and as a writer for Outdoor Life magazine. He also had endorsement deals from gun makers.

But Zumbo dared to express an opinion that differs with the NRA's unbending stance that all guns are good, including military-style assault rifles.

Earlier this month Zumbo used his blog on the Outdoor Life Web site to criticize the use of assault rifles for hunting, especially for mowing down prairie dogs.

``Excuse me, maybe I'm a traditionalist, but I see no place for these weapons among our hunting fraternity,'' Zumbo wrote. ``As hunters, we don't need to be lumped into the group of people who terrorize the world with them. ... I'll go so far as to call them `terrorist' rifles.''

The reaction from the NRA and those it controls has been, to quote The Washington Post, ``swift, severe and unforgiving.''

Zumbo's weekly TV program on the Outdoor Channel, his career with Outdoor Life magazine and his corporate sponsorship with Remington Arms Co. have either been terminated or suspended.

The reaction to Zumbo's statement are as overblown as they are absurd.

First of all, Zumbo is correct. Hunters simply don't need military-style assault rifles to vaporize prairie dogs or anything else. It is the definition of overkill.

Second, terrorists do use military-style assault rifles. No, they aren't the only people who use them, but when terrorists use them the results are tragic.

Zumbo was simply trying to make the point that hunters don't need to use assault weapons nor do they need the bad publicity that comes with using the same weapons terrorists use.

Zumbo has since apologized and vowed to go hunting with an assault rifle, but the NRA and its followers have shown no mercy. Apparently Zumbo must be crushed as an example of what happens when you cross the NRA.

The NRA, in announcing it was suspending its professional ties with Zumbo, warned the members of Congress to pay attention to the punishment inflicted on Zumbo.

Frankly, this should be a warning to NRA members. The organization turns on loyal members if they dare question NRA policy or speak their minds.

NRA members should be ashamed that bully tactics are being used to silence those who disagree - even slightly - with the NRA.

If the NRA's position on assault rifles is indeed the correct one, the organization should welcome debate, not fear it.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: bang; banglist; giuliani; guns; nra; rudy; secondamendment; zumbo
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1 posted on 02/28/2007 8:37:10 AM PST by kiriath_jearim
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To: kiriath_jearim

So now we have an attempt to discredit the NRA?


2 posted on 02/28/2007 8:38:02 AM PST by TommyDale (What will Rudy do in the War on Terror? Implement gun control on insurgents and Al Qaeda?)
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To: kiriath_jearim

bump


3 posted on 02/28/2007 8:39:07 AM PST by lowbridge ("Of course Americans should vote Democrat" -Jihad Jaara, senior member, Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade)
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To: kiriath_jearim

Zumbo got it from the grass-roots. I doubt LaPierre, Cox, or Froman has the slightest idea Jimmy was being slammed until it was well underway.


4 posted on 02/28/2007 8:39:08 AM PST by Tijeras_Slim
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To: TommyDale
So now we have an attempt to discredit the NRA?

Like that's a novel tactic.

5 posted on 02/28/2007 8:39:41 AM PST by Tijeras_Slim
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To: kiriath_jearim

Good use of the "Barf Alert"

.223 rifles come in many forms but they all shoot the same round.


6 posted on 02/28/2007 8:39:59 AM PST by PeteB570 (Guns, what real men want for Christmas)
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To: Tijeras_Slim

You're correct. It was his readers who posted the link on various gun boards. I saw it all transpire in real time from the very moment it happened.


7 posted on 02/28/2007 8:42:28 AM PST by The KG9 Kid
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To: kiriath_jearim
the NRA's unbending stance that all guns are good

News to me.
8 posted on 02/28/2007 8:42:50 AM PST by P-40 (Al Qaeda was working in Iraq. They were just undocumented.)
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To: kiriath_jearim
Zumbo's weekly TV program on the Outdoor Channel, his career with Outdoor Life magazine and his corporate sponsorship with Remington Arms Co. have either been terminated or suspended.

This is pretty much what The Weather Channel wants to do to meteorologists who are anthropogenic-global-warming "deniers."

Weather Channel Climate Expert Calls for Decertifying Global Warming Skeptics

What's the problem?

9 posted on 02/28/2007 8:43:43 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (Islam is a religion of peace, and Muslims reserve the right to kill anyone who says otherwise.)
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To: kiriath_jearim

The only thing worse than a liberal who thinks the Second Amendment is about hunting is a hunter who does.


10 posted on 02/28/2007 8:44:00 AM PST by LibWhacker
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To: Tijeras_Slim

This year, since RINO Rudy Giuliani is seeking the GOP nomination as a gun control freak, it would only be natural for another anti-NRA campaign.


11 posted on 02/28/2007 8:44:04 AM PST by TommyDale (What will Rudy do in the War on Terror? Implement gun control on insurgents and Al Qaeda?)
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To: kiriath_jearim

Assault weapons or assault rifles? The author seems to have them confused.


12 posted on 02/28/2007 8:44:25 AM PST by P-40 (Al Qaeda was working in Iraq. They were just undocumented.)
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To: kiriath_jearim

I haven't hunted in 15 years, other than pest control around the house. There is nothing in the 2nd amendment about hunting anyway.


13 posted on 02/28/2007 8:45:00 AM PST by SWAMPSNIPER (BUAIDH NO BAS, JUST SAY NO TO RINO!)
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To: Tijeras_Slim

So it was left-winged moonbats pretending to be weekend warriors on Zumbo's blog? All at the expense of tainting the reputation of Zumbo and the NRA?


14 posted on 02/28/2007 8:45:21 AM PST by BigSkyFreeper (There is no alternative to the GOP except varying degrees of insanity)
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To: The KG9 Kid

I picked up on it on the S&W forum, followed it to AR15.com, Zumbo's one blog and The High Road, then to here. It's even got a thread in the Skeet Shooting forum at ShotgunWorld.

It was a pure case of "reaping the whirlwind." Amazing to watch, and a lesson we need to remember - from both perspectives.


15 posted on 02/28/2007 8:45:55 AM PST by Tijeras_Slim
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To: kiriath_jearim

it's " the right to bear arms", not the "right to bear hunting implements".

I don't know where this phony "it's all for hunting purposes" argument came from.


16 posted on 02/28/2007 8:47:07 AM PST by Dreagon
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To: kiriath_jearim

LOL, Zumbo was toast before Wayne LaPierre had his morning coffee.

This idiot writer doesn't know grassroots when it bites him in the ass.


17 posted on 02/28/2007 8:48:25 AM PST by TC Rider (The United States Constitution © 1791. All Rights Reserved.)
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To: Dreagon

There was a clause in the 1968 GCA with the odious phrase "sporting purposes." It's a stalking horse like the "collective" militia arguement.


18 posted on 02/28/2007 8:48:40 AM PST by Tijeras_Slim
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To: TC Rider
LOL, Zumbo was toast before Wayne LaPierre had his morning coffee.

He musta had a "just damn" moment that was beautiful to behold.

19 posted on 02/28/2007 8:49:53 AM PST by Tijeras_Slim
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To: kiriath_jearim
Zumbo's career was ended by a grassroots movement. I guess the author can't understand that sometimes "the people" decide how things will play out... not their leaders.

The NRA reacted to the event as an afterthought. The first PR piece I saw from the NRA happened after he had already announced the end of his association with Remington.

20 posted on 02/28/2007 8:49:57 AM PST by tcostell (MOLON LABE)
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