February 22, 2007Sponsors swift to boot Zumbo after anti-gun blog entryIn a career spaning over 40 years, Zim Zumbo established himself as one of the country's .leading hunting writers. That career is reeling in the wake of some controversial comments Zumbo wrote in his blog on the Outdoor Life site. Zumbo had heard that a growing number of predator and varmint hunters were using guns such as the AR-style rifles for their sport. The ARs are rifles that share their appearance with the famous military M-16 (and its derivatives). But they are semi-automatic, just like many sporting and hunting rifles. Well, Zumbo wrote that he felt such "terrorist" and "assault" rifles (his words, not mine) have no place in hunting. Etc, etc. Ooof! It's not unusual to see that kind of stuff from commentators who are uneducated about guns. From a guy who makes his living around guns, no. As one could guess, the outrage was strong and swift. Zumbo has apologized, and even written that he's set up a trip with Ted Nugent to learn more about such guns. But that hasn't stopped a number of sponsors, including Remington and Cabela's, from severing ties with the sportsman. Outdoor Life has also dropped the blog. So, this appears to have been a career-killer, one that shows that when you bite the hand that feeds you, that hand can bite back. Hard. |
About this blog
While growing up in rural Southern Oregon, Mark Taylor developed a passion for the outdoors while he and his younger brother tagged along with their father on fishing, hunting and camping adventures. Graduating from Northwestern University in 1988, Taylor spent four years as an officer in the U.S. Navy based in Norfolk before moving into journalism. After five years writing about the military for a Norfolk-based publishing company, he became the outdoors editor at The Roanoke Times in 1998. He lives in Roanoke with his wife and twin daughters. .....Advertisement.....
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Comments
[February 23, 2007 11:09 AM]
R. MullinsHere are the quotes from Jim.
I must be living in a vacuum. The guides on our hunt tell me that the use of AR and AK rifles have a rapidly growing following among hunters, especially prairie dog hunters. I had no clue. Only once in my life have I ever seen anyone using one of these firearms.
I call them "assault" rifles, which may upset some people. Excuse me, 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. They tell me that some companies are producing assault rifles that are "tackdrivers."
Sorry, folks, in my 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."
I wonder if he consider his ultra high dollar, bolt action rifle with a high dollar scope a sniper rifle? If so, he may want to make a claim to ban them as well.
[February 25, 2007 9:28 AM]
James SalengerWhy was my orginal post not used? During the civil war, a .58 cal muzzleloader was considered an assault weapon. In the westward expansion of this nation the savage natives used homemade assault weapons called bow and arrow.