[California Tanker]

About a week ago, at more or less the same time, pretty much every firearms board that I frequent exploded with Zumbo threads. Not only did the amount of threads cause me surprise, but so did the intensity of them: On one board, the thread had hit two dozen pages within a couple of hours. Barring terrorist attack or natural disaster, things don't usually get up there that fast.

My first problem was that I had absolutely no idea who or what a Zumbo was. Eventually I figured out that it was a person, but all the posts were so filled with vehemence, and I presume assumed that all others knew who he was, that it took quite some time to establish this fact.

Two days later I finally figured out what caused all the hassle.

There's a magazine called 'Outdoor Life', which generally speaking focuses on hunting and fishing. One of the regular columnists/bloggers, sponsored by Remington, is/was a chap by the name of Jim Zumbo. He's apparently had a column in the magazine for quite some time, and is a respected authority on the sport of hunting.

Well, last week he wrote in his blog about a recent hunting expedition, and he wrote that he was surprised when one of his colleagues mentioned that AR-15s are quite popular hunting rifles. Mr Zumbo apparently has only had the pleasure of shooting one once, and never seen anyone hunt with one before. He's a 'traditional' hunter, shooting deer, bears and whatnot with an old-fashioned bolt-action scoped rifle. In his blog, he expresses also his surprise at not having known that there were people who hunted with such rifles, and pontificates a little about it. In a nutshell, he went on to state that he didn't see why anyone should use such a rifle as a hunting weapon, and that they are terrorist spray-and-pray weapons which, frankly, have no place in hunting, make the neighbours uncomfortable, and should be banned for the common good.

This didn't go down too well. I'm evidently an owner of two terrorist rifles. Responses came in from people who use military-originated rifles such as the AR-15, SKS or AK-47 for hunting (a semi-auto .223 is very good for varminting, for example), people who use them target shooting (ARs have become the majority in National shooting competitions such as Camp Perry), and people who don't really care about such weapons themselves, but don't want to give any grounds at all, as if the 'terrorist weapons' get banned, then their 'high-powered scoped sniper rifles' that they -do- use, will be banned soon enough thereafter.

By the end of the first day, the editor put a note on the blog saying "This is Zumbo's opinion. We don't agree with him, but he can write what he wants and we implore you to recall that this is the same person who you've been reading and respecting for years." Outdoor Life apparently took quite a hit in cancelled subscriptions, and there were rumblings about shooters boycotting Remington as well. Pretty much immediately Zumbo realises that perhaps he made a 'whoops', and posts an apology on his blog, and a promise to go out and try hunting with an AR. By day 2, Remington make a statement saying pretty much the same thing as the magazine. The comments entry on the blog just didn't stop updating. By day 4, Remington announces it's severing its arrangement to sponsor Zumbo's column. Day 5, and Outdoor Life announces that it has accepted Zumbo's resignation. The archives on the website are removed and replaced with a simple statement.

So, we have established that shooters don't have much issue with turning on their own if they show weakness or ignorance. Granted, this makes great political capitol for the opposition. "Respected firearms author and hunter calls for ban on 'terrorist weapons'" is good press for people like Violence Policy Center (who this week have announced they're going after .22s)

In the meantime, at a meeting of police chiefs in Washington, an announcement is made that they're arming up their officers in response to an increase in high-powered rifles as a result of the end of the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994-2004. This is, of course, total claptrap as there is no practical difference between a 2003 rifle and a 2005 rifle, but nobody's listening.

Just for even more fun, Rep Carolyn McCarthy, (D-NY) has introduced HR 1022, the "Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection Act of 2007" This is basically draconian law which would declare illegal pretty much any semi-automatic centre-fire rifle built since before WWII. It even includes a wonderful line saying "Only sporting rifles will be exempted. Common use at a sporting event will not qualify it as a sporting rifle, it must be designed as such from the start". Fortunately, at this time it has no co-sponsors, but it's a bad omen for the future.

So, not only are shooters turning on each other, there are other issues out there which could affect everyone, but they're not worrying too much about them.

Hmm.

NTM