The big mistake that Zumbo made is he is a center of influence for the shooting community.
Freedom of speech and the First Amendment are a wonderful thing. But along with that comes responsibility.
If you wrote an Email to your co-workers disparaging your boss, you most likely would be fired. It is doubtful a judge would give you your job back based on the First Amendment.
Jim Zumbo is a gun writer and world class sportsman. By writing what he did, it causes people not to buy Outdoor Life magazine, Remington products, and people no longer watch his TV show. Therefore, many other people lose money.
A similar but different situation is the baseball player John Rocker. He voiced his opinion of the diverse group of people who ride the 7 train in New York. He was basically run out of baseball.
Who cares what a ball player thinks? He is not a rocket scientist, he throws a baseball. In fairness, I think they (the media) were too hard on him. Now if it had been a Police Chief, or a Governor, I would be worried. With Zumbo however, he just didn't think. His apology came a little too late.
The Second Amendment was written to give Americans the right to bear arms to defend themselves against their own government gone awry.
Back then, "arms" meant rifles, muskets, pistols, swords, cutlass, pike and polearms.
The founding father's could never have imagined machineguns, .50 caliber sniper rifles, WMD, etc. In fact, in the 1700's, I guess a Brown Bess would have been an "assault weapon".
I have no need for an assault rifle. I don't scan the skies looking for black helicopters, and I don't watch for chinese paratroopers falling from the sky. And I know that alot of folks have them just because they are fun to shoot.
I also believe that it is an American's right to have one if they are not otherwise prohibited from owning a firearm.
As sportsman, we need to support all of the various venues. Trappers need to support coonhunters, bowhunters should support gun hunters, etc.
Make no mistake, the anti-gun lobby sees no difference in an AR-15 or your 1890's hammer gun. They are all evil and are killing our kids. They will not stop if they ban assault rifles. It will be the first step. Many say register them like you do a car. Well, driving is a privelege. Gun ownership is a right. Big difference. And, we all already know that gun laws make no difference to criminals. They don't buy guns at the gun shop. They buy them from another crackhead or steal them from your home.
To wrap it up, by Zumbo saying or writing what he did showed division. Division in the ranks of the shooting fraternity which is alarming. If a regular Joe made those comments it's no big deal. But for a once well respected writer to make them is troubling. Sorry for the long and bounced around rant.
Kind regards,
