There’s this truck that drives around various parts of East Tennessee. On the side of the truck is a large, graphic image of an aborted fetus and some phrase that is no doubt catchy to pro-lifers. It’s an eyesore. I don’t want my kids seeing it. And, frankly, it makes me lose a bit of [...]

Sebastian notes the difference between what Zumbo said and what Jan Libourel said. And tells us why it’s different. The trouble is that to someone with the mental faculties and whatever mental condition that Sugarmann has is that there isn’t a difference. He just wants to create a conflict.

Remington issues a statement regarding HS Precision’s questionable judgment. And here’s an email from their CEO at arfcom.
This is the second time that Remington responded to calls for action. You’ll recall they dropped Zumbo after he called AR-15s terrorist rifles and we gunnies took offense at that. And they have once again responded positively [...]

Ridefast:
Some, a small minority, may have jokingly called you Fudds, or maybe mocked you. Your guy, Zumbo, called me a terrorist. Who’s the nasty bastard now?
Read the whole thing.

Ray Schoenke of the American Hunters and Shooters Association writes that the big, bad NRA took Cooper down:
Today, on behalf of the American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA), I condemned the actions by the NRA and its cronies forcing Dan Cooper out.
The gun lobby’s attempt to destroy a good man and small business owner, a [...]

Zumboed in half the time:
The employees, shareholders and board of directors of Cooper Firearms of Montana do not share the personal political views of Dan Cooper.
Although we all believe everyone has a right to vote and donate as they see fit, it has become apparent that the fallout may affect more than just Mr. Cooper. [...]

It was reported they supported Obama.
Fearing Zumbofication, the story has since changed to Oops, my bad. I only did once and have changed my mind.
Update: Not convinced.
Joe seems to think he just wants to be eaten last.

The newest Brady report on weapons that look like assault weapons is full of the same stuff they’ve been peddling for 20 years. Except this time, they quote Jim Zumbo on page 17. No mention, obviously, that Zumbo has recanted.

NSSF is trying to address the AR-15’s image problem. Since Zumbo, I think it’s come around quite a bit. And it is the most popular sporting rifle platform around. From WV Outdoor News:
“It’s cosmetically challenged,” said noted gun writer Tom Gresham. “It’s kind of like one of those ‘replicars’, where you have a Volkswagen chassis [...]

Over at NewWest, The American Hunters And Shooters Association is trying to deny that it is a false flag front for anti-gunners trying to appear pro-gun. And that they are shills for the Democrat Leadership Council. Seems they blame John Lott. John Lott is not the one who put the piece of that puzzle together. [...]

Alright, pay attention. This one is important.
One of the epic battles we gun rights people face that is far more damaging than anything The Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Ownership can ever do is the fighting amongst ourselves. You’ve heard it before. We call hit hunters v. shooters; fudds v. gun nuts; or, [...]

You see, they are the righteous pro-hunting, pro-conservation, pro-gun group! The NRA betrays hunters at every turn. At least, that’s what they tell us. Behold Ray Schoenke’s screed at The Daily Kos. It’s so disjointed I can’t really fathom the point other than tooting the AHSA’s horn. Which is amazing, since they have no significant [...]

Joe points out that the term gun safety is back. They anti-gunners were big into this term a bit back. It seemed to go away. After all, I’m a gun safety advocate and think everyone should learn the four rules. Yet the press will refer to them as such. And the pro-gun forces will [...]

Good catch:
I would like to think that maybe, just maybe some folks on the “hunting side of the 2nd” have taken a look around. I hope that perhaps some of the us and them mentality is waning.
I think Gunshots might be a good start.

The Journal Review posts an editorial about Zumbo’s screw-up, his apology, and their opinion of all of the above. (Article by Brent Wheat)
The point of the article?
I think the class was a big success, measured by the grin on Zumbo’s face as he stood ankle-deep in smoking shell casings after shooting a machinegun. I honestly [...]

Heh:
The gun bloggers made the Zumbo incident national. Now they’ve noticed people actually hunt with evil black rifles. We are the new Evil Gun Lobby.

I think so:
Jim Zumbo Has Done More GOOD For ‘BLACK RIFLES’ Then Anyone Else In Modern History
[...]
Jim Zumbo touched off the spark that has allowed black rifles to go mainstream. My guess is that more and more hunters will begin to use these black rifles as they learn about them and see that they are [...]

Or rather, the repeated, continuous flash in all its cordite scented glory. Excellent.

Over at the Brady Blog, Paul Helmke notes a particularly nasty comment he received:
Paul you are a Hypocrite and a Liar, Why don’t you face facts. The Brady Bunch is little more than a Mouth Piece for the ACLU, and the Ultra liberal Wing of the Democratic Party. That the Brady Bunch is a thinly [...]

I noticed since the NYT ran their piece on black rifles, that I’m getting quite a few google hits for the term. Be careful though as black rifle disease is a serious disorder that eats up time and money:

Make the New York Times:
Despite their menacing appearance — and in some cases, because of it — black rifles are now the guns of choice for many hunters, target shooters and would-be home defenders. Owners praise their accuracy, ease of use and versatility, as well as their potential to be customized with an array of [...]

Lawdog reports that Zumbo is getting his terrorist rifle err AR-15 on.

Imus and Zumbo?

Seen at the Geek’s, Zumbo writes to Congress. I’m reprinting it here:
March 28, 2007
An Open Letter to the
United States Senate
Dear Honorable Ladies and Gentlemen:
It recently came to my attention that one of your colleagues, Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, has chosen to attack firearms owners using remarks I wrote in mid-February as his launch pad. [...]

I’ve already said that I believe Jim Zumbo and take his apology and his pledge to fight for gun rights at face value. And his attonement continues:
He has publicly apologized on Ted Nugent’s Internet forum, and he offered the same apology to Gun Week and its readers. The experience has humbled him.
But the disaster [...]

Confessions of an ex-Zumbo.

Congrats to Jeff, Gunner and Gun Law News for their press coverage on the Zumbo affair! Not a bad piece.
As said before, I was contacted for the story. I told the nice lady I’d be happy to chat via email but that’s the extent of my talking to the press. [...]

stile over at The Gun Blogs:
Although it wasn’t asked for he has my forgiveness. We are a community and like any community we can’t expect to get along all the time. Unfortunately, I can see this as a dividing line between the hunters who have their sport and the shooters. This is the time when [...]

I said before that it will soon be stated as fact that the NRA was responsible for Zumbo’s loss of his job for saying something stupid even though that is not the case. What really happened is that a few message boards and blogs noticed it and left comments, sent letters, etc. and that [...]

I think I have a fan at the New York Times. This is the second time they’ve linked me up. First time was here.
Also, I was contacted earlier in the week by foxnews.com about gun blogs and the Zumbo affair. She wanted me to call her. I said I’d be happy [...]

I’m not the only one:
Kevin accepts his apology.
SAAM says welcome back.
Update: link fixed. My copy-and-paste-fu is weak.
Update 2: We’re winning: Astroturf blog The Gun Guys opines as stupidly as he usually does. Via Rustmeister. As far as I know, all he does is preach to the converted and get laughed at [...]

His first letter was mentioned here. Now, At the High Road:
I was wrong when I recently suggested that wildlife agencies should ban semiautomatic firearms I erroneously called “assault rifles” for hunting. I insulted legions of my fellow gun owners in the process by calling them “terrorist rifles.” I can never apologize enough for having [...]

A good summary of the Zumbo affair in the press.

I propose a little wager to all takers: The media took the Zumbo* story, spun it, ran it up the flag pole, and got everyone to salute. Now, Zumbo has apologized, said he was wrong and supports gun rights. I bet this gets almost no press and certainly no press from the Washington [...]

Yeah, yeah. I keep saying I’m done. But Zumbo has written a new piece:
Remember that throughout major firearms incidents, such as the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Bobby Kennedy, the more recent Columbine school shootings in Colorado, and the sniper shootings in the D.C. area, there have been flurries [...]

Remember, gun nuts, we’re the ones that are paranoid. Not them.
And Mike Faulk says Opposition Doesn’t Mean Annihilation:
Ironically, those attacking Zumbo the hardest give the anti-gun crowd plenty of cannon fodder. It’s a shame. Surely his lifetime of advocacy for that which most gun owners hold dear, the right to bear arms, should [...]

Via KDT, The WaPo:
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 [...]

If your only exposure to the Zumbo incident was The Washington Post and the various lefty blogs, you would think that what happened was:
Zumbo said something reasonable about how assault rifles weren’t appropriate for hunting.
The NRA unleashed the hounds of doom and gloom to crush his career with the weight of the most powerful and [...]

Guess which third?
The gun-fearing and generally stupid left looks at Zumbo. See, the anti-gunners dismiss outright that one might lose credibility and favor by referring to owners of politically incorrect rifles as terrorists. It’s all about how poor Zumbo is just a victim of extremists and nutjobs. Nothing to do with his [...]

To his critics:
The story was unpopular with a lot of people, but nowhere in it did I endorse the ban, as some are claiming.
And:
When I wrote it, black guns were not nearly as important a part of shooting as they are now. We can’t afford to sacrifice them, just as we can’t afford to [...]

David Codrea notes some criticism of Jim Zumbo by Field and Stream’s David Petzal:
What Jim said was ill-considered. He’s entitled to his beliefs, but when a writer of his stature comes out against black guns, it sure as hell does not help our cause.
But, in 1994:
“Gun owners — all gun owners — pay a heavy [...]

The Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Ownership says that the Brady Myspace page is authored by an imposter. Here’s the page.
Update: Interesting stuff in comments:
You scooped me, although I was going at this from another angle. If you head over there now, however, you’ll find this embedded in the page (go to page, hit [...]

He has another apology on the Nuge’s board:
They say hindsight is golden. Looking back, I can’t believe I said the words “ban” and “terrorist” in the context that I did. I don’t know what I was thinking when I wrote that. I can explain this as sheer ignorance and an irresponsible use of words. What [...]

Forever to be known as an internet verb. Kevin has the transcript of and some commentary on a Zumbo interview after the recent storm surrounding him calling my weapon of choice a terrorist rifle.
Update: link fixed. stupid copy and paste.

Michael Bane, noting that the Zumbo incident was a tipping point for gun rights, asks where we’re headed with respect to gun rights. I tend to think the recent sunset of the assault weapons ban and Katrina are why evil black rifles have gained in popularity.

It’s now an internet verb right up there with Fisk and Dowdify. Discuss.

Remington has issued a presser.
I’m with Tam. I’ll be buying some Remington stuff. They get preferred status. And they can have some free ads if they want.
Update: Outdoor Life drops Zumbo’s blog. It’s gone. Look, we were rightfully hard on Zumbo. But I think his apology was a sincere [...]

Countertop points out that Outdoor Life has been giving some coverage to the American Hunters and Shooters Association, which is an anti-gun group disguised as a pro-gun group.
He advocates that you call Outdoor Life:
Anyway, I would suggest ALL Outdoor Life subscribers call customer service today.
1 800 365 1580
Press 0 and speak with an operator.
Lets flood [...]

In an update to the Zumbo mess, Remington has a statement at their website:
NOTICE: Remington is in the process of severing our sponsorships with Mr. Zumbo. Remington in no way shares or advocates any of the comments made by Mr. Zumbo on his blog site. A formal announcement will be released by noon [...]

So, this weekend we had a bit of a controversy over hunter and outdoorsman Jim Zumbo equivocating us folks who own black rifles with terrorists. He later said he was wrong. There was quite a bit of pressure and his two posts received thousands of comments. Some thoughts:
I think Zumbo was just [...]

It means they’ve already got my evil black rifle.
I was gonna write something extensive about this moron but Tam and Kevin already did. Some dumbass who I’ve never hard of but who writes for Outdoor Life says:
I must be living in a vacuum. The guides on our hunt tell me that the use [...]