> Longtime outdoorsman and television personality JIM ZUMBO is being
> semi-verbally attacked by thousands of semi-literate, immature,
> childish GUN-worshippers because Jim inferred that the automatic,
> military-style assault weapons U.S. "hunters" prefer are "TERRORIST
> RIFLES."
>
> In fact, Zumbo's very career is in doubt because so many NRA ass-
> wipers are up in arms about an issue that seems, to we enlightened,
> educated, informed, mature people, to be just another instance of the
> infantile, widdle boy love -- obsession -- that "hunters" have for
> their guns!
>
> I'm totally surprised that some gun-guber hasn't yet invented a
> firearm that allows the owner to dry-fuck it!
> It's probably in the works.
>
> Of course, we've known for years that "brave hunters" - in THEIR heart-
> of-hearts - know that if they were TRUE sportsmen, and sportswomen,
> they'd stalk their fearsome prey (especially fierce birds, squirrels,
> etc.) with spears, knives, or bows and arrows, at the most. But ...
>
> "Ah gits tah hut them wildlifes with fahr-power, don't uh?"
>
> That's the mentality we're talking about here.
>
> But there's just no reasoning with these yo-yos with IQs of ashtrays,
> is there?
>
> The NRA says "jump," and they hop to it - ignorantly clinging to the
> laughable notion that the Second Amendment gives U.S. pea-brains the
> "right" to "bear arms." Seldom does a week pass that someone's son or
> uncle isn't shot to death by a gun-wielding "hunter."
>
> Of course, we don't see many of these armchair soldiers going to Iraq
> to fight "TERRORISTS" with their assault weapons, do we? They just
> want to stay home and stalk little animals and birds with their
> overwhelming firepower, don't they?
>
> (Don't YOU?)
>
> Well, at least we non-benighted folks get a lot of knee-slapping
> laughter and entertainment when these (you) boobs put down the Doritos
> and cry "Whaaaaa!" when you're called to task by cooler heads.
>
> Anyway, jack-offs, have at those big game creatures! Oh, but I sure
> hope you don't "accidentally" shoot a relative or friend with your
> TERRORIST RIFLE. That wouldn't be sportsmanlike.
>
> Say, have you all investigated the latest .50 cal. machine guns? Your
> NRA masters say they're the best for blastin' just about anything that
> moves in - or out of -- the woods!
> ------------------------------------
> 'Terrorist' Remark Puts Outdoorsman's Career in Jeopardy
>
> "Zumbo's Criticism of Hunters Who Use Assault Rifles Brings
> Unforgiving Response From U.S. Gun Culture"
>
> By Blaine Harden
> Washington Post Staff Writer
> Saturday, February 24, 2007; A03
>
> SEATTLE -- Modern hunters rarely become more famous than Jim Zumbo. A
> mustachioed, barrel-chested outdoors entrepreneur who lives in a log
> cabin near Yellowstone National Park, he has spent much of his life
> writing for prominent outdoors magazines, delivering lectures across
> the country and starring in cable TV shows about big-game hunting in
> the West.
>
> Zumbo's fame, however, has turned to black-bordered infamy within
> America's gun culture -- and his multimedia success has come undone.
> It all happened in the past week, after he publicly criticized the use
> of military-style assault rifles by hunters, especially those gunning
> for prairie dogs.
>
> "Excuse me, maybe I'm a traditionalist, but I see no place for these
> weapons among our hunting fraternity," Zumbo wrote in his blog on the
> Outdoor Life Web site. The Feb. 16 posting has since been taken down.
> "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 tens of thousands of owners of assault rifles
> across the country, from media and manufacturers rooted in the gun
> business, and from the National Rifle Association -- has been swift,
> severe and unforgiving. Despite a profuse public apology and a vow to
> go hunting soon with an assault weapon, Zumbo's career appears to be
> over.
>
> His top-rated weekly TV program on the Outdoor Channel, his longtime
> career with Outdoor Life magazine and his corporate ties to the
> biggest names in gunmaking, including Remington Arms Co., have been
> terminated or are on the ropes.
>
> The NRA on Thursday pointed to the collapse of Zumbo's career as an
> example of what can happen to anyone, including a "fellow gun owner,"
> who challenges the right of Americans to own or hunt with assault-
> style firearms.
>

>>From his home near Cody, Wyo., Zumbo declined repeated telephone

> requests for comment. He is a 40-year NRA member and has appeared with
> NRA officials in 70 cities, according to his Web site.
>
> In announcing that it was suspending its professional ties with Zumbo,
> the NRA -- a well-financed gun lobby that for decades has fought
> attempts to regulate assault weapons -- noted that the new Congress
> should pay careful attention to the outdoors writer's fate.
>
> "Our folks fully understand that their rights are at stake," the NRA
> statement said. It warned that the "grassroots" passion that brought
> down Zumbo shows that millions of people would "resist with an immense
> singular political will any attempts to create a new ban on semi-
> automatic firearms."
>
> Some outdoors writers drew a different lesson from Zumbo's horrible
> week.
>
> "This shows the zealousness of gun owners to the point of actual
> foolishness," said Pat Wray, a freelance outdoors writer in Corvallis,
> Ore., and author of "A Chukar Hunter's Companion."
> Wray said that what happened to Zumbo is a case study in how the NRA
> has trained members to attack their perceived enemies without mercy.
>
> "For so many years, Zumbo has been a voice for these people -- for
> hunting and for guns -- and they just turned on him in an instant,"
> Wray said. "He apologized all over himself, and it didn't do any
> good."
>
> Zumbo's fall highlights a fundamental concern of the NRA and many
> champions of military-style firearms, according to people who follow
> the organization closely. They do not want American gun owners to make
> a distinction between assault weapons and traditional hunting guns
> such as shotguns and rifles. If they did, a rift could emerge between
> hunters, who tend to have the most money for political contributions
> to gun rights causes, and assault-weapon owners, who tend to have lots
> of passion but less cash.
>
> The NRA appeared to be saying as much in its statement Thursday, when
> it emphasized that the Zumbo affair shows there is "no chance" that a
> "divide and conquer propaganda strategy" could ever succeed.
>
> "Jim Zumbo Outdoors" was not broadcast as scheduled last week on the
> Outdoor Channel and will not air next week, said Mike Hiles, a
> spokesman for the channel. He said sponsors have requested that they
> be removed from the program. The show "will be in hiatus for an
> undetermined period of time," he said.
>
> Zumbo's long career at Outdoor Life, which is owned by Time Inc., also
> came to a sudden end in the past week. Zumbo was hunting editor of the
> magazine, which is the nation's second-largest outdoors publication.
> He wrote his first story for Outdoor Life in 1962.
>
> The magazine's editor in chief, Todd W. Smith, said that Zumbo
> submitted his resignation after hearing of the large number of readers
> (about 6,000, at last count) who had sent e-mails demanding his
> dismissal. Smith dismissed as "conjecture" a question about whether
> Zumbo would have been fired had he not resigned.
>
> "Jim is a good guy, and I feel bad about this unfortunate situation,"
> Smith said. "We are living in very delicate times. For someone to call
> these firearms 'terrorist' rifles, that is a flash-point word. You are
> painting a bunch of enthusiasts with the word. They don't like being
> called terrorists."
> When he wrote his now-notorious blog entry, Zumbo was on a coyote hunt
> in Wyoming sponsored by Remington, a detail he noted in the entry.
>
> That mention -- as it bounced around in recent days among a number of
> assault-weapon Web sites -- triggered a call for a boycott of
> Remington products.
>
> That prompted Remington to issue a news release, saying that it has
> "severed all sponsorship ties with Mr. Zumbo effective immediately."
>
> Remington chief executive Tommy Millner issued a personal appeal to
> gun owners who might be thinking about boycotting the company's
> products: "Rest assured that Remington not only does not support
> [Zumbo's] view, we totally disagree," Millner said. "I have no
> explanation for his perspective. I proudly own AR's and support
> everyone's right to do so!"
>
> Zumbo, in his public apology, said that when he wrote the blog entry
> that criticized assault rifles, he was at the end of a long day's
> hunt.
>
> "I was tired and exhausted," he wrote, "and I should have gone to bed
> early."
>
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/23/AR2007022301709....
>