NRA's bully tactics to silence differing views is shameful This should be a warning to NRA members. The organization turns on loyal members if they dare question NRA policy or speak their minds.
By the Editorial Board of the Union-Bullein
The leaders of the National Rifle Association are so obsessed with the perceived threat to the Second Amendment's right to keep and bear arms that they won't tolerate anyone who strays from NRA doctrine - even if it's one of the NRA's most famous and loyal members.
Jim Zumbo, a 40-year NRA member, has made a name for himself as host of a TV show about big game hunting in the West and as a writer for Outdoor Life magazine. He also had endorsement deals from gun makers.
But Zumbo dared to express an opinion that differs with the NRA's unbending stance that all guns are good, including military-style assault rifles.
Earlier this month Zumbo used his blog on the Outdoor Life Web site to criticize the use of assault rifles for hunting, especially for mowing down prairie dogs.
``Excuse me, maybe I'm a traditionalist, but I see no place for these weapons among our hunting fraternity,'' Zumbo wrote. ``As hunters, we don't need to be lumped into the group of people who terrorize the world with them. ... I'll go so far as to call them `terrorist' rifles.''
The reaction from the NRA and those it controls has been, to quote The Washington Post, ``swift, severe and unforgiving.''
Zumbo's weekly TV program on the Outdoor Channel, his career with Outdoor Life magazine and his corporate sponsorship with Remington Arms Co. have either been terminated or suspended.
The reaction to Zumbo's statement are as overblown as they are absurd.
First of all, Zumbo is correct. Hunters simply don't need military-style assault rifles to vaporize prairie dogs or anything else. It is the definition of overkill.
Second, terrorists do use military-style assault rifles. No, they aren't the only people who use them, but when terrorists use them the results are tragic.
Zumbo was simply trying to make the point that hunters don't need to use assault weapons nor do they need the bad publicity that comes with using the same weapons terrorists use.
Zumbo has since apologized and vowed to go hunting with an assault rifle, but the NRA and its followers have shown no mercy. Apparently Zumbo must be crushed as an example of what happens when you cross the NRA.
The NRA, in announcing it was suspending its professional ties with Zumbo, warned the members of Congress to pay attention to the punishment inflicted on Zumbo.
Frankly, this should be a warning to NRA members. The organization turns on loyal members if they dare question NRA policy or speak their minds.
NRA members should be ashamed that bully tactics are being used to silence those who disagree - even slightly - with the NRA.
If the NRA's position on assault rifles is indeed the correct one, the organization should welcome debate, not fear it.
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Chuck J. wrote on Mar 14, 2008 10:50 AM:
" Good one Mike, you said it all! The 2nd Amendment is about protecting family and country from the enemy, or our own government if the president ever decides that a certain group of people should be locked in camps, it never was about hunting. FYI: I do own an AR-15 (and a gun safe) but do not hunt, just saw Red Dawn one too many times as a kid to sit back and feel safe with my local police looking out for me and my family. "
mike cook wrote on Mar 7, 2007 8:54 AM:
" I think you guys are way off base on this one. The NRA had nothing to do with the firing of Jim Zumbo. He made the mistake of opening his mouth without knowing what he was talking about. The "terrorist rifles" he was talking about are not that different from the same rifles he uses to hunt with himself. They just look different. The rifles he was refering to are not fully automatic, they are semi automatic. They just look different. Is he going to tell me i cant drive my car now because i put big flashy rims on it because it looks like something a drug dealer would have on his. No he is not. People have to learn to judge a book by its content and not its cover. The reason so many of us were upset at his remarks is that the second ammendment states we have the right to bear arms. It does not say we have the right to hunt. Do i own an ar-15 no. But i dont have the need for one at this time either. If i did you bet i would own one. And they dont use them just for prairie dogs as you stated in your column. They are more used for long range shots on coyotes. The NRA did not have anything to do with myself or the other 60,000 people that contacted Remington, Outdoor life, Field and stream, Gerber knives, Hi mountain seasonings. We did that because he was wrong and even admited that he was wrong. It is hard enough for us to keep the guns we have when narrow minded people like yourselves and our democratic congress judge guns by there appearance and not there function. So what if i want a gun with a scope on it. So what if i want a gun that is all black. Most of the guns that are killing people are pistols, not hunting rifles, shotguns or even the Assalt type rifles. Less 1 % of all gun crimes commited in the United States last year were committed with Assault rifles. So who is pulling whose leg here.
The majority of gun crimes are commited with stolen weapons. We need to strengthen the laws we have not start new ones that they cant easily enforce. "
Chuck J. wrote on Mar 14, 2008 10:50 AM: