I’m not a gun nut, but I own three that I hunt with -- 12 gage shotgun, .22 and a bolt action 7mm. I’m probably buying a handgun before I start doing much more predator calling in cougar country. And I tend to agree with Zumbo and Field & Stream’s David Petzl (more or less), that the AK-class rifle doesn’t have a place in the hunting community.
Sure, you should be able to have them, shoot them, store a bunch in the armory at your compound -- be ready for the rapture! But I don’t think they have a place in fair chase hunting.
I lived in Massachusetts for a year; I know excessive gun control is a problem. But the people arguing for my second amendment rights don’t speak for me.
Petzl has tried to address Zumbomania on his blog. And he has been smothered in negative comments. The people commenting on this post don’t understand. Petzl hit the nail on the head when said the lunatics are making themselves look like bigger morons. 741 comments so far, including this gem:
A man in good service to his country for 20 years that sells information to our enemy is still a TRAITOR. It doesn't matter who he is or what he has done. He betrayed us and is a TRAITOR.
This situation is no different. We are at WAR with the anti's. Every day, every night. If you think of it in any other fassion (sic), you have my pitty (sic).
We are many... and we are watching you.
Yeah... that's the kind of guy I want to see armed to the teeth.
Oddly enough, I was just getting ready to write a post about why Outdoor Life is a terrible publication and is bad for the outdoors community. Looks like that project just got a bit timelier. Funny thing: I had Zumbo listed as one of the magazine’s few redeeming qualities.
Update: I wrote this post last night, but was waiting to post it until today. Since that time, Zumbo's own Web site has been shut down either through too much traffic or malicious intent. This thing has gone crazy.
All this does is continue to separate gun nuts from sportsmen -- forking a larger group into two separate camps. And judging by the response, that's ok with me.
4 comments:
Hey Matt. Good to see not all gun owners are hysterical scalp seekers.
Good post Matt and interesting read.
I used to shoot competively and have lots of guns--mostly shotguns but still a couple of 'assault rifles' from my high power days.
I think that hunters let the NRA take them for fools for swallowing the line that these guns have any real value for hunting. Sure you should be allowed to use one if you like, but there are many better tools for the job than a cheap Chinese AK knockoff. Get real folks.
That being said, I do drag out the trusty AR-15 for time to time for shooting varmits at long distances, but that is really just for fun. A model 70 works just as well, if not better.
What is it about so-called assault rifles that rubs you the wrong way?
From a purely emotional standpoint, civilian legal assault rifles look scary. But from an objective standpoint, they are just semi-automatics, with black plastic instead of wood. (Automatic weapons are not what Zumbo was writing about. They are already illegal for hunting.)
No one in the hunting community complains about duck and goose hunters using semi-automatics.
No one in the hunting community says Remington bolt action guns with a black synthetic stock should be banned.
It certainly isn't the cartridge that is the problem as many hunters have .223 bolt-action rifles for varmint hunting.
Does it make sense to ban the 7.62x39 mm cartridge because Russians use them?
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