Posted on 03/05/2007 3:25:49 PM PST by Mini-14
I was hoping that Jim would come around in this manner. He nowhas the chance to take the fight to dragon and win.
"so Nuge read him the riot act concerning these rifles???"
I'll bet riot act is not too strong a word.
I am betting on a genuine conversion. The actual reasons for the 2nd Amnd. may never have occurred to him. His thing is hunting. After his faux pas he got educated by a deluge of material in amongst the profanity etc. I would definitely give him a pass here. He is a good writer but he lived has heretofore in a very narrow valley and didn't get out much until it all got piled up right in front of him.
His apologies and his probable future writings are a net plus on the side of the RKBA, a big plus if that one faux pas article is the sum total of the "damage" done. It's not like he had spent a career trashing RKBA and then did a turnaround. He voiced an assumption of a purist who was sour on the thought of people using improper tools for the craft he loves and as a purist he didn't see any other use for those tools. It was like the thought of someone using a fine skeet gun as an entrenching tool. His problem article brought a ton of education down on him and he did not reject it. He took it in and opened his eyes. That is not to deny that the impending loss of livelihood may have triggered his successful re-education. Paraphrased -the prospect of being hung in the morning concentrates the mind wonderfully from a quote whose author I do not recall.
He used to earn a little extra money by ghost writing for various people. IIRC, a minister named Dodd got himself convicted of a capital offense (theft?) and was sentenced to be hanged despite all efforts to obtain a pardon.
In due course his "last goodnight" was published, and somebody noticed that his style had improved a great deal from his previously published sermons. Some of Dr. Sam's acquaintance taxed him with having "ghosted" the good reverend's final speech (which of course he had), and he responded, "When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully."
. . . just happen to know this because I am re-reading Mr. Boswell's outstanding biography of Dr. Johnson, and the Dodd episode went by a couple of chapters ago.
If you have not read this book, do. It's a landmark in biographies, one of the first of the genre, and it's very well written and entertaining. What's more, you don't need to read it in great gulps, you can dip into it anywhere and enjoy yourself (I keep it by my bedside for that reason.)
Sounds like he was sent to rehab...
Bill Clinton said, all you have to do is apologize.
I'm skeptical that he has changed his core attitude toward rifles based on the M16 and the AK47. I'll believe it when he lives it. It sounds to me he is making nice to get his job and money and prestige back.
I call this a good start on an apology. when I see him in the field reviewing a Colt or Bushmaster, then I'll believe this apology.
Zumbo did not make a mistake. It is not possible to make a mistake with your core beliefs. I would not write an article promoting abortion and later say, "oops, I meant it's murder". I would not write an article saying raping women is OK, and later say "oops, I meant it is evil". Or write homosexuality is wonderful, and later "oops, I meant it was a sin".
It is not possible to mistake your core beliefs. When he wrote that military-style rifles are terrorist weapons that should be banned, he meant it. No mistake was possible.
This apology is an abject lie. Anybody who believes he is sincere is being severely duped. However, AFTER he spends the rest of his lifetime hiding his true belief that these guns should be banned and AFTER he spends the rest of his lifetime fighting against the banning and restriction of every single type of firearm and cartridge, then and ONLY then will I accept his apology and forgive him, posthumously.
Until then, I hope he puts his money where his "apology" is. I will judge him by his actions, not his words, and not just his action this month. He has a long, long, long way to go before I accept his apology.
I was wrong when I recently suggested that men should have sex with 4 year old boys...
I was wrong when I recently suggested that abortion is fine...
I was wrong when I recently suggested that Communism is the best form of government...
I was wrong when I recently suggested that you should give your children LSD...
I was wrong when I recently suggested homosexuals make the best parents...
I was wrong when I recently suggested that terrorist rifles like the AR15 should be banned...
Do you all see now how hollow Zumbo's apology sounds when you put it in context. You don't make mistakes about your core beliefs. It flat isn't possible. And you don't change them easily, certainly not without a lot of thought and time and perhaps a bit of trauma.
To suggest that Zumbo suddenly "gets it" that military guns should not be banned is as absurd as the head of NARAL waking up the next day apologizing for her stance for abortion or the head of NAMBLA waking up the next day apologizing for his stance on sex with little boys. If the comparison seems extreme, I believe Zumbo's gun-banning beliefs are well within the scope of the two examples I just listed.
His apology is a lie. It becomes pretty apparent after you consider the context as I outlined above. You just don't just go for a life-time believing children need both a mother and a father, and then wake up one morning saying, "I was wrong when I recently suggested that kids need a mom and dad. Kids should be raised without a father. Gee, that is sooo much better."
You NEVER mistake your core beliefs. Never.
BTTT
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