Outdoor Life Magazine Has Blown It Bigtime

Jim Zumbo is the author of the Outdoor Life Magazine column "Hunting with Zumbo" as well as the Outdoor Channels program "Remington Presents Jim Zumbo Outdoors". I have read the articles, and watched the television shows in the past, but will no longer.

Jim Zumbo has fallen into the trap set by the anti's, and is selling out the Second Amendment and those of us who own and use "evil black rifles".

In his own words:

Assault Rifles For Hunters?

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."

We sure don't want any "tackdrivers" used for hunting now do we?

The military version of the rifle in Jim's column is the M16, the rifle being used by our troops, you know "...the group of people who terrorize the world with them".

Mr. Zumbo has pissed me off on so many different levels, and in so many different ways that it is hard to comment on his words without slipping into profanity. Here is an avid hunter, with a nation wide audience, turning against certain gun owners based on the appearance of the rifle. The cartridge is fine, the fact that they are semi-automatic is fine, the only problem is the appearance.

He goes on to say:

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.

Well sir, to many folks unfamiliar with firearms, your scoped Remington looks like a sniper rifle, and quite a few of these folks would like to see it banned also. It is interesting that you divorce yourself from folks who own AR's and AK's because these firearms have plastic stocks and adjustable lengths of pull, while you hunt with a Remington with a stainless steel barrel, a synthetic stock, and the best optics supplied by your sponsors. Many traditional hunters would call that an unfair advantage in the hunt, and would require that you use only black powder and iron sites. Heck, there are even those who would like to do away with rifle hunting all together and only allow bows and arrows. What would you say to them?

You disgust me, and yes, your sponsors will find out just how much you disgust me come Monday morning. One thing I know for certain, a Quisling such as you in the gun ranks will not be tolerated for long. Heck, "Zumbo" may replace "Quisling" when it comes to referring to a traitor to the firearm community.

Also commenting are:

Armed and Safe

The War on Guns

Live from the (upper) Texas Gulf Coast

and Shooting the Messenger

I have been reading the commentary to this article posted here for over an hour now. There is some very good stuff in there, and the credentials of some of the commentators should provide a wake up call for Mr. Zumbo.

**Edit to add**

The list of bloggers commenting on this is growing:

The Smallest Minority, Oscar Poppa, Xavier Thoughts, Blogonomicon, The Unforgiving Minute (a new blog for me), and View From the Porch so far. If I happened to miss you, feel free to post a link in the comments.