Zumbo Undoing = Officially National News Story

[js]

Looks like the Jim Zumbo story has made the mainstream news media...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17307316/

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Text of Article

Gun remark makes outdoorsman an outcast
Criticism of hunters who use assault rifles puts writer’s career in jeopardy

By Blaine Harden
washingtonpost.com
Updated: 9:22 p.m. AKT Feb 23, 2007

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."

Squarely in the crosshairs

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.

Shot across Congress’ bow

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."

Circling the wagons

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.

‘Living in very delicate times’

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."

© 2007 The Washington Post Company

 

[Cosmoline]

Who's this Wray character? It looks like MSNBC scoured high and low to find some guy with a self-published book who'd be willing to give them the requisite soundbite about how we've been "trained" by the NRA

Wray has some comments posted here:

http://www.tonydean.com/issues.html?sectionid=7105

Think for yourself. Don’t vote the way any organization tells you to vote without careful, critical consideration. If hunters continue to blindly follow NRA ballot guidance, it may soon be too late. We will get what we deserve. In the end, it’s all about the land.

His comments stink of more of the same HCI wedge driving. Trying to divide hunters from gun owners and most importantly to break up the vote. If this Wray character is the best they can come up with, I'd say we're still doing good.

The article itself is more of the same nonsense. They go back and forth between "assault weapon" and "assault rifle," and try very hard to marginalize Zumbo's critics

-- from tens of thousands of owners of assault rifles across the country

Ha! I don't even know where to begin with such a combination of error and bias. Face it. We will never, ever get a fair hearing in the press. To expect them to be any kinder to the cause if we're nicer to guys like Zumbo or offer compromise positions on the AWB2 is foolish.

 

[js]

I don't even know where to begin with such a combination of error and bias. Face it. We will never, ever get a fair hearing in the press. To expect them to be any kinder to the cause if we're nicer to guys like Zumbo or offer compromise positions on the AWB2 is foolish.

just remember... Zumbo is now the victim in the eyes of the mainstram media... we on the other hand are... "terrorist". Pretty sick...

 

[Zoogster]

It worked in many places, they will try it here. There is many passionate hunters with money to spend, and defense oriented buyers as well. If they can divide them through legislation and public opinion they can tackle gun owners seperately instead of united.

I feel for Zumbo, but our rights are important, and better some feelings are hurt, and examples made protecting them than blood needing to be shed taking them back. Many people have died fighting for the rights we have now, letting thier sacrifices be in vain because we let people like Zumbo spout off at the mouth is not an option.

When someone is given a large voice on a politicly volatile subject, they need to realize they speak for more people than just themselves and better not make any rash statements that do not reflect the community they represent, or the sponsors that they represent.

His own personal regrets I am sure have more to do with financial loss than any feeling of personal wrongdoing. In fact I recall a statement he made alluding to just that, that he always has been a strong supporter of hunting. He just does not get it. In America hunting is a great pastime, but has nothing to do with the RKBA. People excercising the RKBA may wish to enjoy and partake in that pastime, but they are entitled to rights that far exceed it.

English subjects of the UK can still hunt if they jump through many hurdles and plan far ahead, but they surely do not enjoy the RKBA. I am not inclined to join them.

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Analysis

Several inaccuracies.

"Assault rifle" strewn liberally through the article without proper definition or differentiation. Takes advantage of Zumbo's phrasing without examination.

By the time the reader is done, he is left with the impression that AR means Assault Rifle when, in fact, it was a designator for a rifle model series well before the rifle was submitted for consideration by the military. Armalite made several AR models, including the AR-7 (.22 LR survival rifle), quite clearly in no sense an "assault rifle." Armalite also produces a pistol, the AR-24 (9mm service pistol), indicating that "AR" is distinctly an ARmalite designator, and has no "assault" connotations.

what can happen to anyone . . . who challenges the right of Americans to own or hunt with assault-style firearms.

Right to hunt? Misses the point. Can't tell if it's ignorant or purposeful.

. . . the NRA -- a well-financed gun lobby that for decades has fought attempts to regulate assault weapons . . .

Gun lobby? Assault weapons? More "mistakes" that contribute to the overall tenor of their "assault" theme. This is looking less accidental.

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.

***?? Any of y'all go to that NRA "attack training" seminar? I didn't get the invite.

. . . the NRA and many champions of military-style firearms . . .

Definitely an effort to create a divide here.

They do not want American gun owners to make a distinction between assault weapons and traditional hunting guns such as shotguns and rifles.

False but plausible.

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.

Hunters are rich, and guys who spend several times what hunters do on rifles, accessories, and ammo have "lots of passion but less cash."

Well, we may have less cash, but that's because we spend it with the gun companies, rather than giving it to politicians. Just where do you think the influence leverage of thousands of angry buyers came from? You think Remington was just being polite??

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.

Finally, something I can endorse.

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.

Do I need to comment?

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."

Because we are always more prone to let slip our true feelings if we're really tired.

Mostly I don't care for the evident bias in the story.

However, if the "no chance" that a "divide and conquer propaganda strategy" could ever succeed part is picked up, repeated, and believed, then I'm all for it.

 

[js]

English subjects of the UK can still hunt if they jump through many hurdles and plan far ahead, but they surely do not enjoy the RKBA.

Personally, I don't like the idea of being a "subject"... and Zumbo's comments have given all the anti-gunners out there the ammo they need to put me one step closer to just that... a "subject" of the government of the United States. The Brady Campaign is all over this right now and I won't even mention HR-1022 that has just been introduced...

 

[Standing Wolf]

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.

Actually, I'm very surprised MSNBC referred openly to the leftist extremists' efforts to divide and conquer those of us who champion the right to keep and bear arms.

They succeeded with the so-called "assault weapons" ban.

We need to show them they'll never succeed with that shameless propaganda technique again.

 

[bogie]

Arfin, we can't play "definition" games.

1) we don't have the time, space, or the audience.

2) we also don't have the "history." By that I mean that the "term" has passed into popular use as describing a rifle with a detached magazine and an ergonomic pistol grip. Sorry, but that's the it is.

 

[sacp81170a]

Many people have died fighting for the rights we have now, letting thier sacrifices be in vain because we let people like Zumbo spout off at the mouth is not an option.

One point in clarification, due to the very rights to which you refer, nobody "let" Zumbo spout off at the mouth. He had a perfect right to do so without asking anybody's permission, least of all ours. That said, we also have the perfect right to ostracize, lambaste and criticize him. Our rights to freedom of association and speech are every bit as valid as Zumbo's. This article attempts to paint the AR community as "oppressors of free speech." Nonsense. The Constitution limits the government, not the citizens.

What burns me is the attitude evidenced in the whole tenor of the article, which twists the meaning of the Constitution from "that which is not forbidden is permitted" to "that which is not permitted is forbidden". Nothing would make the anti's happier, and nothing could be more wrong.

 

[js]

We need to show them they'll never succeed with that shameless propaganda technique again.

Agreed!

 

[2400]

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."

Hmmmmm looks like the lesson is responsibility. If you wrote it you own it.

This is amazing, the NRA now trains it's members to attack without mercy.

Yup out of the blue, gun owners all over the country just attacked poor old Jim for no reason. What apology is this guy talking about? I have NOT seen the words "I'm sorry" anywhere, or any retraction of the remarks about terrorists or terrorist weapons.

 

[spartacus2002]

Screw Zumbo.

He's a bigoted Fudd who tried to throw sport-utility-rifle owners under the bus of political correctness.

Hope he enjoys his newfound retirement. Maybe he will have time to learn that the Second Amendment isn't about hunting.

 

[vis-à-vis]

Congress takenote:

Criticism of hunters who use assault rifles puts writer’s career in jeopardy

 

[redneck2]

I guess I get tired of the "I'm sorry....now let it all go away" attitude.

Hollywood and politicians get to put out a lame apology and everything is supposed to be fine. Whining, groveling, and doing 30 days in rehab makes everything right.

Let him rot.

 

[Wasz]

I just kind of wonder. How many people out there are mad that crazy gun-nuts got their favorite hunting writer fired?

 

[El Tejon]

1, Jim Zumbo.

 

[JohnL2]

I can't believe the shooting community has turned so harshly on one of its own that has done so much.
We have expressed out dissatisfaction. Jim has expressed his regret. We should move on constructively.
This whole reaction shows just how seriously we take our cherished right to bear arms.
I think the shooting community is just SICK AND TIRED of all the gun limiting, gun banning, pandering politicians out there. Also the misinformation from entertainment media.

 

[Waitone]

Now if gun owners could just dismantle the career of a long standing politician.

 

[K3]

Despite a profuse public apology and a vow to go hunting soon with an assault weapon, Zumbo's career appears to be over.

Now I may not be the smartest guy around, but I didn't see his 'apology' as profuse. It was more like 'I'm sorry that I got caught'. There are many statements in the article that show msnbc's bias, but this one really caught my eye.

 

[James Lee]

This is just the beginning of Zumbo's legacy I fear. He played right into their hands..assault rifle this, assault rifle that. Damn.

 

[Waitone]

Zumbo's career is not over. I fully expect him to get a gig at AHS.

 

[Old Fuff]

Concerning the story, consider the source... MSNBC.

They are no friends of the Second Amendment. Now they have to explain why it was that the "hunters" didn't come forth in an overwhelming defense of Jim, and collectively denounce those evil "terrorist weapons." Clearly from the writer’s perspective, Zumbo was right, and of course the National Rifle Association is responsible for the whole unfortunate outcome, because they can program their members. Expect the Brady bunch to follow a similar line…

... 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.

Comes as news to me, maybe they mean "hunters" like that guy who ran on the Democrat ticket for president the last time around.

 

[22-rimfire]

I think at age 67, Mr. Zumbo's outdoor writing career is probably over. I believe he is unemployable in the outdoor or firearms industry at this time and he does not have enough time to rebound. I reget that the whole affair even happened. My suspicion is that he misjudged his support base, hunters, and shooters alike. For that he is guilty in my opinion.

I don't know if the above quote is correct as Old Fluff pointed out. Fly fishermen used to be a fringe element in trout fishing and due to their financial support of that industry, it seems to dominate in this segment of freshwater fishing these days. The same may in fact be true of AR owners and shooters. It is certainly true of handgun shooters.

Owners of military battle rifles and handguns (I believe) dominate the 2A issue in terms of their vocal objections to any state or federal regulation of firearms. The NRA is their friend.

Oh, thanks for posting a copy of the the Washington Post article as I went to their web site and really didn't want to register. I just don't want all the advertising emails that are likely to come from registration.

 

[F4GIB]

Another "gun writer" elitist

From Sunday's Washington Post.

"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.

THat's right. Blaming the NRA. What a Fudd!

P. S. The Army trained me to attack enemies without mercy lest I be killed. Good lesson.