They eat their own...

A writer for Outdoor Life, Jim Zumbo, opened his mouth and spoke out against "evil black rifles". The rest of the world watched in shock and awe as a wave of backlash went from breaker to tsunami size in a matter of hours. What was Jim's offense? Ignorance. The same ignorance that anti-gun folks use to call for bans against all firearms.

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."

It gets better, though. Ever since that blog entry broke (that blog is offline, btw), sponsors and friends alike are distancing themselves from Zumbo. There is no excuse from a supposed hunting authority to call for a gun ban just because "hunters don't use assault rifles". The firearm's business world realizes this.

However, the damage is done. Anti-gun groups, like the Brady Campaign, will take a quote from a "respected" hunter and author and turn it into a rallying cry for another AWB. Oh wait, there is already legislation brewing for another AWB. Can't wait for the field day that will bring about.