Jim Zumbo screws up

[badbob]

My emails to OL keep getting returned. Is it safe to assume that the OL inbox is full? heh heh

badbob

[Phast12]

My Email to Remington

I am writing to thank you and your company for your recent actions concerning Mr. Zumbo. To some it may appear that the reaction was over the top, but in reality from the manner in which Mr. Zumbo created and handled the issue his character was called to question. The clarity of the attack and the apology that followed left in my mind and many others the truth. I am proud and please that I can continue support your great company.

My Email to From Gerber

Following Jim Zumbo's recent comments, those of us
at Gerber would like
to clarify that we respect the opinion of our
sponsored hunters and
users however, we do not necessarily agree with all
their opinions, nor
do we endorse their public statements. Our presence
and development in
the tactical and hunting markets is proof-positive
we are committed to
supporting these industries and all those involved.
Since Jim's blog was published he has issued this
apology:

My Response to Gerber:

First let me state that the link you attached no
longer functions. Secondly your statement leads me to
believe that you will continue to employee Mr. Zumbo
as a spokesman. With that being said I will no longer
purchase any product of your companies as stated in my
email earlier. I believe that if you have read the
whole account of what transpired and continue to
support Mr. Zumbo then our goals and beliefs are
greatly different and I can not support that.

[TPAW]

Although Remington did the right thing, I would not give them too many "At a boys". Their decision was based on money and nothing else. Had they not spoken out against Zumbo, Remington would have been boycotted by many of us, and they know it. It's a money issue, not a moral one. Remington is out to do one thing, and one thing only, sell their products and make big profits.

[Gewehr98]

Although Remington did the right thing, I would not give them too many "At a boys". Their decision was based on money and nothing else.

Last I heard, Remington was a gun-selling business, and somewhat dependent on folks being able to buy guns that aren't outlawed by Brady Bunch legislation.

So, yeah, it's a self-preservation thing, and if the Big Green CEO just happens to be an ardent 2A supporter, how (and why) are we clairvoyants in the peanut gallery going to disprove it?

[badbob]

The reply from Stoney Point:

Stoney Point advertising is with The Outdoor Channel. Any opinions expressed by Mr. Zumbo are those of Mr. Zumbo and do not represent the opinion of Stoney Point.
Stoney Point is a long time supporter of the NRA and supportive of Second Amendment rights.
Stoney Point Management

badbob

[hksigwalther]

I wonder if JZ's anti-gun hunter stance will jump ship and push him into the waiting arms of the anti-gun groups and be one of their mouth pieces.

[badbob]

I wonder if JZ's anti-gun hunter stance will jump ship and push him into the waiting arms of the anti-gun groups and be one of their mouth pieces.

He is already one of their mouthpieces, apparently.

badbob

[rcupka]

We all need to learn from this, JZ is not the only pro-gun person with this attitude. At the club where I shoot the Wood and Blued Steel rifle shooters do not seem to like the "Black Rifle" guys. I hear them groan when the AR and AK shooter's show up in their camo.

While I prefer older military firearms, I own and shoot a little of everything from Garands and Mausers to AR's and SKS's, so I don't care what other people shoot. I can appreciate that picatinny rails with lights and Trijicon sights are neat too. How do we harness both sides to fight the anti-gunners??

This year in Michigan the anti-Dove hunting crowd were successful in getting some hunters to join their cause calling Dove hunting little more than live target practice while showing video of Doves flopping around on the ground. They know if they can divide the shooting sports against each other they will win.

[drinks]

I am too old to enjoy looking at the SKS, AK, AR and M weapons, to me all selfloading military weapons are ugly, with the exception of an MI Carbine with a 5 round flush magazine, even an M-1 looks pregnant.
Just too many years with lever actions and single shots[ yes, I think a Win. 95 is as ugly as a mud fence and I love '92s and '94s], but this is just taste, I really do not care what ugly, knobby, sheet metal, pieces of malformed metal and plastic others own, I just do not want a journalistic pimp to say they should be banned.:barf:
Zumbo the Dumbo, enjoy your retirement.

[BobK]

OK, I jumped on the band wagon and emailed everybody and their brother. Hope it works. Thanks to those that posted links.

My take on this: He new what he was writing and so did his editor. They are now backpeddaling because of the reaction. Of course we have a right to our opinion but the bottom line is, leave your opinion at home when writing for a national publication. Unless of course someone asks. If they do ask, lie your ass off!

[mxwelch]

Funny, how his blog has been removed.

[Anon]

His beef/venison/game seasonings sponsorship is gone.

Hi Mountain Seasonings has dumped him

http://www.himtnjerky.com/ (look at the bottom)

[Slugthrower]

So now... Go vote... You people have the power to stop any retarded AWB. Yet many do not vote or are not politically active. If you lose those beloved rifles, who is truly to blame? Cali is a lost cause and NYC as well. Let them live in their self created hell. The rest of us have a choice. VOTE!!!

drinks says. " I just do not want a journalistic pimp to say they should be banned."

He cannot be the pimp when he is a media whore. OL is the pimp.
Remington was another pimp for him, seems that he was "dis"-"owned"

[Ian2005]

Wow.. so much for "everyone is entitled to his or her opinion".. never mind the fact that the guy has been doing it for years and most readers have just been gobbling it up. Now his livelihood is probably damaged beyond repair for calling a AK-47 a "terrorist rifle"... what was he thinking. Isn’t it possible everyone’s reaction is way out of control??!!

[Jart]

Originally Posted by Ian2005

Wow.. so much for "everyone is entitled to his or her opinion".. never mind the fact that the guy has been doing it for years and most readers have just been gobbling it up. Now his livelihood is probably damaged beyond repair for calling a AK-47 a "terrorist rifle"... what was he thinking. Isn’t it possible everyone’s reaction is way out of control??!!

Quite possibly. I know I didn't feel like adding my .02 to the 5,000 or so responses to his last two blog entries.

Nevertheless, I find the response quite understandable:

Note that nobody is denying his right to his opinion. However, the rest of the world has an equal right to have an opinion on his opinion.

He hasn’t been doing it for years. He’s been writing for years. He only came out of the closet publicly in the last several days.

He derived income from hunters, sportsmen and sporting goods suppliers for decades then became, unwittingly or not, a spokesperson for the Brady Campaign.

There is a fundamental difference between someone who thinks EBRs should be banned and someone who suddenly announces such a position, at retirement age, after deriving his income from those he betrayed. He’s not exactly a teenager – he has less than no excuse to have not learned the lessons 1994 had to teach.

He has been held up for exceptional scorn for roughly the same reasons that Vidun Quisling got more attention than the average collaborator.

[Clayfish]

Yes, every one is entitled to his own opinion. And everyone must be able to deal with the consiquinces of that opinion. Just as he has the right to speak his mind, I have the right to not support anyone who supports him. Zumbo stabed his audience in the back and therefore his audience will not support him anymore. Don't think for one minute that if one of the brady bunch jumped ship like Zumbo they wouldn't be looking for a job the next day. It wasn't the fact that he called an AK a terrorist rifle, he made the implications that anyone who owns an AR-15 or AK-47 is a terrorist.

[Yankee Doodle]

I received this Auto Reply from Stoney Point

Stoney Point advertising is with The Outdoor Channel. Any opinions expressed by Mr. Zumbo are those of Mr. Zumbo and do not represent the opinion of Stoney Point.

Stoney Point is a long time supporter of the NRA and supportive of Second Amendment rights.

Stoney Point Management

[DonR101395]

Wow.. so much for "everyone is entitled to his or her opinion".. never mind the fact that the guy has been doing it for years and most readers have just been gobbling it up. Now his livelihood is probably damaged beyond repair for calling a AK-47 a "terrorist rifle"... what was he thinking. Isn’t it possible everyone’s reaction is way out of control??!!

They are also responsible for their words.
He's been writing for years, not calling for a ban on guns for years.
Looks like he paid for biting the hand that fed him.
The only thing out of control was his calling for a gun ban in order to save his precious bolt rifle.

[RevolverLover]

So far, Remington and Hi Mountain Seasonings have cut ties with Zumbo.

Hopfully the rest of his sponsors follow.

[mxwelch]

Wow.. so much for "everyone is entitled to his or her opinion".. never mind the fact that the guy has been doing it for years and most readers have just been gobbling it up. Now his livelihood is probably damaged beyond repair for calling a AK-47 a "terrorist rifle"... what was he thinking. Isn’t it possible everyone’s reaction is way out of control??!!

When he holds a position of prominence in gun culture his words have far more impact that most people. His complete lack of foresight, commonsense, whatever will be picked up by the anti-gunners as a major rally cry to ban these "terrorist" weapons. He's entitled to his opinion, we're entitled to ours. His sponsors dropped him because he pissed a large block of customers off with his ignorance. I'm not gonna stay quiet when he calls for the 2nd amendment only for weapons HE chooses just so he can keep his job.

[Musketeer]

Wow.. so much for "everyone is entitled to his or her opinion".. never mind the fact that the guy has been doing it for years and most readers have just been gobbling it up. Now his livelihood is probably damaged beyond repair for calling a AK-47 a "terrorist rifle"... what was he thinking. Isn’t it possible everyone’s reaction is way out of control??!!

He is certainly entitled to his opininon. The people he depends on for his livelyhood are also entitled to theirs.

If his reputation is damaged beyond repair he has only one person to blame for it, himself.

This moron has obvioulsy been isolated on his mountaintop hunting for the last 40 years and not observed the many repeated overt attacks against the 2A. He lacks the mental capacity to realize that for a (one time) "Recognized Shooting Authority" to make statements like he did provides as much ammunition to the anti 2A cause as press coverage from a Columbine incident. Here you have a "Spokesman for the Hunting Community" telling all of middle America "We real shooters also abhore those evil black rifles. We would all be better off without them!" What does your average, non-2A enlightenned individual take from the statements of a Jim Zumbo when used as ammunition by the Brady's to back a new Assault Weapon Bill?

Where will this moron be when his hunting rifle becomes an "assasin's sniper rifle"? http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/...d.php?t=238779

[Marko Kloos]

Remington is out to do one thing, and one thing only, sell their products and make big profits.

Yeah, like every corporation ever established. You say it like "profits" is a dirty word.

[Ian2005]

Do people not change as they get older? It's obvious Mr. Zumbo has come to see these assault weapons in a different light:

This really has me concerned. As hunters, we don't need the image of walking around the woods carrying one of these weapons. To most of the public, an assault rifle is a terrifying thing. Let's divorce ourselves from them. I say game departments should ban them from the prairies and woods.

So of course Remington and every makers of every rifle with a magazine in it is probably going to dropping him as a sponsor - he's calling for people to not buy some of their product line. -It all comes down to the almighty $$buck$$ - shocking I know.

If you read the article, I’m surprised more of you aren’t complaining about his hunting ethic of going out for coyotes with a .17 caliber bullet. That doesn't sound like a very humane choice to me, and I can see the merits of the round being debated in the hunting section.
But, does his opinion warrant voiding the man's lifetime work?! I mean he was still out there hunting, out there writing, not suddenly a member of no-guns.org or anything. And I’m sure the NRA will soon be on the bandwagon too, & who knows what will be left of his reputation after that.

I've never even read a single article of his so I’m not biased in any way, but I can imagine if I had read his work and been a follower of his for many years, and really like or even own M-16's and AK-47's, I can see why some of you might be angry.

[p99guy]

Well Here is the latist from the Brady Bunch...as we said, they ARE after all of the guns, not just the Military styled semi autos....those that think their Remington 700 isnt now in the sights of the anti gunners take note.
Even Jim Zumbos crew better take note.

Brady campaign blog

Monday, February 19, 2007 - 2:09 AM

"The tragic proliferation of Sniper Rifles

I would like to take a moment to comment on the proliferation of Sniper Rifles.

Sniper Rifles are typically equipped with a high-powered scope, and every single one of them can blow through the body armor cops wear. They can even penetrate multiple police cars. Does the Second Amendment protect cop-killer Sniper Rifles? The NRA certainly thinks so, along with the powerful gun lobby that wants your children and your law enforcement officers to be at risk from these weapons of mass destruction. Some of these Sniper Rifles can even penetrate ballistic or armored glass, lightly armored vehicles, and armored limousines. Senator Ted Kennedy attempted to solve this with an important bill that would have banned armor piercing ammunition and protected lawful firearm commerce:

"Another rifle caliber, the 30.30 caliber, was responsible for penetrating three officers' armor and killing them in 1993, 1996, and 2002. This ammunition is also capable of puncturing light-armored vehicles, ballistic or armored glass, armored limousines, even a 600-pound safe with 600 pounds of safe armor plating.....

..It is outrageous and unconscionable that such ammunition continues to be sold in the United States of America.."

Should our elected officials live under the threat of reprisal on their lives from disgruntled constituents? The Gun Lobby seems to think so. We disagree.

Sniper Rifles can be equipped with precision optics above even what the Military uses, allowing a sniper to deliver rounds within millimeters of accuracy - enabling them to engage targets at distances of well over one hundred meters. Is there a pressing need to be able to kill with accuracy at that distance? It is too far to justify as self defense. It is too far for hunting. It is only useful for those who wish to murder from afar.

Large caliber Sniper Rifles such as the .50 Browning Machine Gun can derail freight cars, shoot down aircraft and helicopters, damage vital ground equipment such as power substations, fuel tanks, and air traffic control, and cause complete chaos. For more information on why large caliber machine-gun rounds must be banned, visit http://www.50caliberterror.com. A shipment of large caliber machine-gun round sniper rifles made by Steyr turned up in Iran, and are being used on our own soldiers, as the .50 bullets easily defeat their body armor, their up-armored humvees, and even APCs.

Many forward thinking, progressive politicians such as Ted Kennedy, Chuck Schumer, Barbara Boxer, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama have voted against Center-Fire Rifle Ammunition of types for Sniper Rifles, but due to the pressure and massive financial resources of the gun industry, the necessary steps to protect our homes and lives have not been attained.

Sniper Rifles have been used by murderers and spree killers for years, with notable incidents such as the Beltway Snipers, the Clocktower Sniper, and more.

ANY rifle configured and equipped as a sniper rifle has no sporting purpose especially as a hunting rifle. They are too big and heavy to take to the field. Designed for distance shooting, they are useless for the ranges at which game animals are normally shot, and when used on sporting sized game at range they often just wound the animal, inhumanely forcing it to die slowly while the would-be hunter tracks it to finish it off. Most Sniper Rifles fire atypically large cartridges and ultra high velocity ammunition that can travel much greater distances that standard ammunition. The danger imposed from missed shots and ricochetes from these specialty rounds is unreasonable.

Most of these rifles carry multiple rounds, with either an automatic mechanism, or a quick toggle action to rapidly move another bullet into the breech, ready to fire into another victim. In most states, they are nearly unrestricted. Anyone over the age of 18 can buy one. If they can't pass a background check, they skirt the NCIS system by going to a gunshow, or finding a private sale in the newspaper. A murderer camped at a distance from a public gathering could quickly turn it into a massacre dwarfing anything we have seen before in the United States, if they had a Sniper Rifle. If they adopted hit and run tactics, entire portions of our country could be shut down.

Sniper Rifles shoot a high powered bullet that is almost always fatal. They are designed for one thing- delivering powerful overkill with deadly precision. You don't need the kind of power and accuracy that can kill a man at five hundred yards for hunting rabbits or defending your house.

We should also give commendations to France because many years ago they designated any firearm capable of shooting military ammunition as a military arm, illegal to posess without a special permit and unlawful to use for hunting. The 223, 308, 7mm mauser, 30-06, and 6.5x55 have no place in the hunting fields of France. Firearms shooting these calibers are military weapons only designed for killing PEOPLE and should be kept out of the hands of the general population. Because they have no hunting purpose, there is no reason for civilians to own them.

Every state in the USA has hunting equipment rules that limit the caliber of firearm used to take game. They also limit the types of rifles, length, magazine capacity, etc. States should amend these hunting regulations to restrict the use of "sniper" rifles, specialty "sniper" cartridges, and "sniper" ammunition. Limits on weight, barrel length, bipods and tripods, thumbhole stocks and pistol grips, night vision type scopes, scopes of excessive magnification, super magnum and high velocity ammunition, and military slings should be imposed. They have no place in the hunting fields of America and hunting usage should not be used as an argument for civilians to own such firearms and weapons. There are more than ample hunting rifles, cartridges, and rounds of ammunition to choose from without them.

Let us hope that in a safer, saner America, we will succeed in our efforts to restrict the deadly spread of long distance murder rifles."


:barf: :barf: :barf: :barf: :barf:

[OPC]

But, does his opinion warrant voiding the man's lifetime work?! I mean he was still out there hunting, out there writing, not suddenly a member of no-guns.org or anything.

IAN2005: not to single you out, but this is statement is representative of most of the people mentioning tolerance of opinion.

I counter: If his opinion were the only thing he stated you might have a case. If he had declared a preference for bolt actions over AR's and AKs, fine. If he had stated that ARs & AKs are not his cup of tea, fine. Even his categorizing ARs as "terrorist weapons" might have been forgiven in time. But as it is, he followed up his opinion with a call to action:

I say game departments should ban them from the prairies and woods.

And for that he is condemned to public scorn and his life's work is dust.