Originally Posted by Anjin
... It would be interesting to see exactly what Jim Zumbo wrote that stirred up such a wide ranging discussion. Has anyone actually seen it? Whatever it is, I don't seen any lasting harm given the current state of gun sales in the US. ...


What Zumbo wrote was posted there: http://outdoorlife.blogs.com/zumbo/2007/02/assault_rifles_.html It has been removed but I found a copy of his blog entry; this is what he wrote:

Originally Posted by Jim Zumbo in his Outdoor Life blog
Assault Rifles For Hunters? ...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 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. ...

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."

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.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Zumbo#.22.27Terrorist.27_rifles.22_blog_entry

I just perused some of several and long Fire threads sparked by Zumbo's blog entry in February 2007; the volume of comments, the speed at which comments were posted and the intensity of the feelings expressed are striking.

Is it too ambitious or too naive to look for an honest politician? Or simply a useful one?