Posted on 03/23/2007 9:32:22 AM PDT by kiriath_jearim
ASSAULT WEAPONS
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, the National Rifle Association leadership has stated repeatedly that a ban on assault weapons is ineffective and unnecessary. They assert that guns labeled as assault weapons are rarely used in violent crimes and that most people use them for hunting. However, despite these repeated assertions, the list of people speaking out against assault weapons continues to grow.
Jim Zumbo, an outdoors entrepreneur who lives in a log cabin near Yellowstone National Park, has spent much of his life writing for prominent outdoor magazines, delivering lectures across the country and who starred in a highly rated TV show about big-game hunting. Jim has been an NRA member for 40 years, and, according to his Web site, has appeared with NRA officials in 70 cities across the country. This relationship changed drastically when Jim expressed his commonsense opinion on assault weapons. Last month, after learning that some hunters were using assault weapons to hunt prairie dogs, Jim expressed his thoughts in his personal blog on the Outdoor Life magazine website. He wrote:
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.’’
He continued by stating that in his:
. . . 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.’’
The reaction from NRA officials was swift and callous. They immediately severed all ties with Mr. Zumbo. His TV program on the Outdoor Channel was canceled, and his longtime career with Outdoor Life magazine ended. In addition, many of his corporate ties to the biggest names in gun making, such as Remington Arms Co., were terminated.
Jim Zumbo has worked for years to improve the image of outdoorsmen. As he put it:
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 prairies and woods.
We all owe Jim Zumbo a debt of gratitude for his forthrightness, his honesty and his courage. We must put the safety of our communities first by taking up and passing sensible gun legislation that includes renewing the assault weapons ban.
Proof that the brain should be engaged before the mouth is opened.
Jim must be sooo proud..
I still say that he may have been drunk and mad at someone with a black rifle when he wrote that, and everything went horribly...horribly wrong.
Yea, but even his "sober" explanation tries to tie hunting to the 2nd amendment.
It was just a matter of time.
We must put the safety of our communities first by taking up and passing sensible gun legislation that includes renewing the assault weapons ban.
And to think that before the mid-terms, all I heard from the MSM was that the Democrats had "learned their lesson", and gun control was "off the table."
Once back in power, it didn't take the Dems long to introduce H.R. 1022, a new "assault weapons" ban (which currently has 30 cosponsors).
***Jim Zumbo has worked for years ....***
Not now.
But we're supposed to 'forgive and forget'.
I'll do that when zumbo puts the toothpaste back in the tube.
Zumbo has completely recanted that comment, admitting that he had been caught up in his own realm of classic hunting tools and that ignorance+bias led to saying biased ignorant things. He knows better now, and promises to be the worst nightmare of the likes of Mr. Levin.
While Jim has since seen the light (kinda like Jimmy Swaggert after being caught), this really proves that words have meaning.
For the Zumbo files.
Zumbo? - Does this guy know he has the name of a circus clown?
Since Zumbo's name was used, he should request to appear before the congressional committee, to set the record straight. Does anyone know how to contact Zumbo??
Hey Zumbo-Dumbo, see where your words end up?
This is why everyone is hating you right about now.
Yea, a few posts up the stream, "put the toothpaste back in the tube".
He may be in a van, down by the river.
Too bad they didn't read in Jim's retraction into the record as well.
The fact that Zumbo has retracted these statements is of no concern to the gun grabbers.
If there is justice in this world, this guy Zumbo is working at a 7-11 in East Saint Louis or New Orleans right now with nothing but a muzzle loader to defend himself.
He was right. Assault rifles aren't all that useful for hunting. They're for personal and family protection. And there's no way the government had any Constitutional authority to ban them.
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