Another Letter from Zumbo
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 worn blinders when I should have been wearing bifocals.
But unlike those who would destroy the Second Amendment right to own a firearm – any firearm – I have learned from my embarrassing mistake. My error should not be used, as it has been in recent days by our common enemies, in an effort to dangerously erode our right to keep and bear arms.
[…]
I’ve studied up on legislation now in Congress that would renew and dangerously expand a ban on many types of firearms. The bill, HR 1022 sponsored by New York Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, is written so broadly that it would outlaw numerous firearms and accessories, including a folding stock for a Ruger rifle. I understand that some of the language could ultimately take away my timeworn and cherished hunting rifles and shotguns as well as those of all American hunters.
The extremist supporters of HR 1022 don’t want to stop criminals. They want to invent new ones out of people like you and me with the simple stroke of a pen. They will do anything they can to make it impossible for more and more American citizens to legally own any firearm.
Good on him. Yes, he still looks at it as a hunter but that’s what the man is.
By the way, I think everyone who was so quick to crucify him needs to be as quick to call Outdoor Life and tell them he should get his job back. Seriously.
Update: Sebastian agrees. So does fodder.
Update 2: Commenters are not convinced. As I said:
Guys, he concludes with:
I’m going to devote every ounce of my energy to this battle. I will remind my fellow hunters that we are first, gun owners. Whether we like it or not, our former apathy and prejudices may place that which we love, hunting, in jeopardy. I will educate fellow outdoorsmen who mistakenly think like I talked, even if I have to visit every hunting camp and climb into every duck blind and deer stand in this country to get it done. I was wrong, and I’m going to make it right.
I’ll take him at his word until I see evidence otherwise.
Update 3: Good timing too since Paul Helmke of The Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Ownership is exploiting Zumbo today.
So, if Zumbo is forgiven and gets his job back, you think it will make the front page of The Washington Post? Just askin’.
Update 4: Sebastian has more on Zumbo’s sincerity.
And the added benefit of the PR we get from forgiving him.
March 6th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
[…] thinks that those of us who were quick to crucify Jim Zumbo ought to write Outdoor Life and tell him that they should give him his job back. I heartily agree. I would add one thing to that though. I’d really like to see Jim use […]
March 6th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Saw this at Snowflakes in Hell, I think it’s a good idea.
March 6th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Me too. Zumbo, cont.
March 6th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Already have – when I called to renew my subscription.
Put my dollars where my mouth is, so to speak.
March 6th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
So Zumbo’s been rehabbed? Golly gee that sure was quick, I’m guessing the checks didn’t even stop arriving in his mailbox. Count me as a skeptic. He’s got a long way to go before he proves himself to me.
March 6th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
Sorry, guy. In my religon, you have to do more than just apologise to be forgiven- we understand that words are cheap.
To just instantly ‘forgive’ him as soon as he mutters an apology is to cheapen the rights he attacked and to spin the damage he did.
Let Zumbo do some penance- let him do some real act to repair some of the damage he’s done to the cause of Second Amendment rights and to the “legions” of military rifle shooters- and we can talk about forgiveness. Until then… like I said, talk is cheap. Talk from a journalist who sees his career endangered is even cheaper.
March 6th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
Guys, he concludes with:
I’ll take him at his word until I see evidence otherwise.
March 6th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
An apology is enough for me – if it’s sincere.
March 6th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Sorry, but this guy can’t just get a pass from me for his attacks on the Constitution of the United States, or saying that I have terrorist rifles.
Talk is cheap. Slick Willy demonstrated that to one and all. Actions count, and Zumbo bleating like a judas goat now about how sorry he is, is just that – cheap talk.
When I see some action on this morons part to demonstrate his rehabilitation, I may forgive him. Not now
March 6th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
Talk is cheap. If he backs it up with action, I say good for him and welcome back into the fold. The fact is that the AR platform is flat taking over the precision shooting world, whether it be for varmints, hunting, or punching paper. He spoke from ignorance and a little bit of elitism. The former can be cured with education, the latter from humility. He could use some of both.
March 6th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
[…] SayUncle » Another Letter from Zumbo Another Letter from Zumbo […]
March 6th, 2007 at 6:39 pm
I’m inclined to let him back into my good graces. Let him prove that he’s going to be a reliable friend, and all will be good. If he actually does dedicate time to teaching and “converting” hunters with anti-AR bigotry into accepting gun owners, then this entire thing will be well worth the drama, in my mind.
March 6th, 2007 at 6:59 pm
If Trump can give Miss USA another chance,
Zumbo who has done more more for hunting and gun rights than
99% of the population should get a second chance also.
March 6th, 2007 at 7:04 pm
The latest from Outdoor Life:
Read the whole thing, but it sounds like the apology has not been accepted where it really counts. It seems unlikely that any other outdoor journal will touch him at this point, so he’ll have plenty of time to “… visit every hunting camp and climb into every duck blind and deer stand in this country …” He just won’t have any sponsors to pay for it.
March 6th, 2007 at 7:07 pm
OK, tell me what you naysayers want from Jim Zumbo. He’s a writer, he’s writing. He’s writing good stuff. I can see being a bit of a skeptic, but cut the poor guy a bit of slack.
I assure you my tongue was planted firmly in cheek when I suggested that Zumbo needs to buy the NRA another museum as penance.
Besides, the Joyce Foundation has millions. The Brady Bunch makes their cash from a few huge high-profile donations. Either one of them could have given him a raise and kept him working, for the other side.
March 6th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
Mischief: How about a year on the unemployment line for every time the gungrabbers quote him? After all, he wanted to have my guns taken away permanently… plus, if he really didn’t damage the odds of us retaining our Second Amendment rights by supplying propaganda for the antiConstitutionialists, he should be able to go back to work very soon.
March 6th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
Update 4: Linky no Worky
March 6th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Fair enough, as long as we credit him 11.5 months every time a pro-freedom group uses Zumbo as a verb.
“We need to ZUMBO the National Park Service. “
March 6th, 2007 at 11:44 pm
Absolutely. Hire him back. Holding grudges are bad business — especially after an apology like this.
March 7th, 2007 at 12:56 am
I think Zumbo could be the shooters biggest ali. I also think the manufactures of AR rifles are missing a great marketing opportunity if they don’t give Zumbo a “camouflage” AR and put him on a hunting show demonstrating the effectiveness of this fine rifle. Let us not forget that Zumbo is not the only hunter and voter out there that doesn’t understand the AR.
I am for putting him back to work in the right direction.
March 7th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
We all make mistakes. Forgive him, give the man a chance.
March 7th, 2007 at 11:53 pm
42×365.25=15,340.5 days to take chance to get it right. How many chances does he need? If 15k plus isn’t enough why would one more ……….oh, wait a minute…. I see,now the first 15k+ missed opportunities didn’t cost him any money or free hunts. Now, I get it!
One more would do it, now that his lifestyle is threatened. He sure as Hell wasn’t too concerned with anybody else’s, but we are now supposed to take pity on him? Uh huh, I’ll get right on that.
March 8th, 2007 at 12:09 am
He is still talking from the hunter POV. And he had plenty of warning back in 1994 when he supported the “Assault Weapon” ban. So did the rest of you idiots who took so long to figure him out.
March 8th, 2007 at 11:23 am
[…] I’m not the only one: […]
March 9th, 2007 at 8:34 pm
Zumbo (based on tones of BOTH apologies) is not sorry he said it — he’s sorry that intelligent gun owners think he’s stupid — and don’t want him to have a public forum any longer for that stupidity. (If not stupid, he was lying — it tests credibility in the extreme to think he didn’t know, among other things, that you could hunt varmint with .223 Rem. !!!) But who cares even that, now.
ZUMBO TRASHED GUN OWNERS IN THE WORST WAY — a way HE HAD TO KNOW WOULD BE USED AGAINST US. Zumbo says: “My error should not be used, as it has been in recent days by our common enemies, in an effort to dangerously erode our right to keep and bear arms.”
ZUMBO CALLS US TERRORISTS’GUNS owners — what the heck would any halfway intelligent person think the gun-banners would do ?? !!! Stupid !!
The people who want him back are typical — no matter what wrong one commits, just give a half-hearted apology and the softheaded types soak it up. RUSH is right!
Keep him off the printed page and the air (radio – TV)!!! ENOUGH !!
March 22nd, 2007 at 9:02 am
[…] I concur. […]