Operation Zumbo Drop
Remington has issued a presser.
I’m with Tam. I’ll be buying some Remington stuff. They get preferred status. And they can have some free ads if they want.
Update: Outdoor Life drops Zumbo’s blog. It’s gone. Look, we were rightfully hard on Zumbo. But I think his apology was a sincere effort. Like Adam said:
…in the comments he’s still being shit on. People are saying he’s just doing it to keep his job, he’s just doing it for financial reasons, et cetera. What, so only people with nothing to lose are allowed to apologize? That’s ludicrous. He said he was wrong. He didn’t blame us for misinterpreting what he said, he didn’t do what the Dixie Chicks did and make it worse. He flat up too responsibility for his mistake, said he was wrong.
That takes guts.
So stop being so goddamn cynical. He said he was wrong.
I concur. While I applaud Remington for their unequivocal response, I think Zumbo was sincere in his retraction. Sure, he used his free phone call to the Nuge and all that. But it’s quite likely he was, in fact, ignorant and now realizes that.
February 19th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
Remington, which has a plant in Illion, has always been supportive of gun owners in New York.
February 19th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
I really appreciate this line
Can’t ask for more than that, and I think we need to keep the pressure up on them to do a major story on how disingenuous the anti gunners have been on a host of issues – especially their attempts to split the hunting and firearm owning communities (which is what underpins the ASHA and is really what is so offensive about Zumbos column in my mind)
February 19th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
Screw him.
The damage has been done. The Brady Bunch is up and running with the Zumbo football. See Kevin’s post at Smallest Minority.
February 19th, 2007 at 5:10 pm
I’m with Bruce.
I don’t buy the “ignorance” line. In Zumbo’s worldview, only hunters count. Even his retraction was based upon the premise that he “didn’t realize” how many hunters there are that use those types of firearms and would take offense.
I left a comment on his blog that, bottom line, hunting is not the only “dignified” use of a firearm.
If he was ignorant, it was because he has chosen to remain so. Is he so isolated in his elite lifestyle that he’s NEVER gone to a range and seen perfectly normal people (read NOT terrorists) using AR and AK style firearms for target shooting and simple enjoyment? He had NO IDEA that anyone could possibly want to shoot while having no desire to kill anything in the process?
Zumbo is nothing more than one of those elitist assholes that thinks the only opinion that really counts is his. If you don’t engage in the sports of which he approves, with the tools of which he approves and using the methods of which he approves, well, you’re just not worthy of his notice or consideration.
I can’t think of one time I’ve ever heard a target shooter denigrate hunters and/or their chosen sport. Why do hunters feel it necessary to denigrate non-hunters so consistently and regularly. Why ESPECIALLY do high profile hunters think it is OK to do so?
It makes me ill.
Good riddance to Zumbo and I hope that he never gets another public gig as long as he lives. I simply do not believe that he went from ignorance to enlightenment that quickly. I firmly believe that he STILL holds non-hunters in contempt and has only received a lesson on political self-censorship. I cannot believe that his elitist, self-serving, narcissistic attitude has been cleansed by this incident. As far as I’m concerned, he’s an enemy of the Second Amendment and I’m glad that his blog is gone.
I also hope that all the other “outdoors” writers have learned a lesson from his thrashing.
One more thing: I’ll be buying SOMETHING with Remington on it this week. I don’t know what but I’m sure I’ll find something I can use.
February 19th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
Sorry Uncle, Zumbo’s CYA “apology” wasn’t in the same county as “sincere.” That doddering old Fudd knew exactly what he was saying when he said it, and believed every word of it. It reflected his true opinions. He’s not going to convince me that he had some kind of “road to Damascus” moment that completely changes his views 180 degrees literally overnight. Good riddance.
February 19th, 2007 at 5:45 pm
Put me in the “goddamned cynical” column.
He knew what he was writing when he wrote it.
He’s sorry he got caught.
His apology still equates “good gun” with “used for hunting“; to wit, he’s going to reconsider his opinion because the Nuge is going to take him on an AR hunt.
He didn’t even mention a bit of remorse at the “terrorist” thing.
February 19th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
I don’t accept weak-kneed, half-baked excuses that were supposed to be apologies from teenagers, much less adults.
Must have been nice in Wyoming. Free guns to shoot. Factory reps to drive you around and open free boxes of ammo. Free coyotes. I bet the expense account prime rib was hot and tender and the expense account motel room spacious and quiet. In such a setting I bet it really is tempting to think about the RKBA folks struggling in DC, lobbying in NY and NJ, legislating and trying to raise funds everywhere else. I wonder if he thought: What the heck are those knotheads making so much trouble FOR? Nobody is going to take MY guns! Heck, I got the Remington Reps right here pouring drinks! Just ban those dang things and be done with it.
February 19th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
I agree with Tam.
Although ill-informed and misguided, Zumbo candidly shared his beliefs that ARs and AKs are “terrorist rifles.”
His after-the-fact discovery of the 2A falls on my deaf ears.
Outdoor Life needs to terminate him permanently, and not just until the flak dies down, and it should also repudiate the AHSA.
I have bought Outdoor Life from time to time, but no more.
February 19th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
[…] I’m with Uncle. […]
February 19th, 2007 at 7:21 pm
First, thanks for the link, SayUncle. Made my day, ‘cos I’ve read this site a long time. On to the situation…
This guy is just an old coot who has no idea what’s going on outside of his little circle of old coot hunting buddies. He’s like that weird uncle that has all the deranged theories about minorities or other religions.
Everyone knows someone old and a little crazy. He’s been writing for forty-two years, he says, which to me says he’s probably in his sixties. If only our politicians lasted forty-two years before turning into crazy old farts.
I don’t think the guy thought about the slippery slope of what he was suggesting. I’m not really sure he thought much at all before writing the post. I think it’s highly possible and probable he geniunely feels bad for pissing off other shooters the way he did. I think some of the things said since he apologized are beneath us as a group — we’re not the DU or DailyKos here.
And I’m not some middle-of-the-road, hunters-only gun type or a fan of Zumbo’s — I hadn’t heard of him before SayUncle linked to the controversy (and I’m still not entirely sure who he is). I may not be an NRA member, or have an audience with the Nuge… but I love all guns — hand guns, evil scary bullet hose guns that make DiFi cry, “assault” rifles, hunting rifles, etc.
Especially the ones that upset DiFi, though. Because those are the best kind.
February 19th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
And I didn’t mean to say “I think” before so many sentences, but in editing away that post (which was monstrously big before I started removing/rewording) I didn’t notice that I’d said it that many times.
Oops.
February 19th, 2007 at 8:58 pm
Just got off the phone with my dealer – he’s now looking for a particular model 870 for me. Been thinking about it for a while, decided now is the time. Thanks, Mr. Millner, for showing that Remington is led by someone with a spine.
I think Zumbo committed a tactical error, but Outdoor Life committed a strategic one by not paying attention to just who Zumbo is. Tam sized it up right: he wouldn’t have typed it if he didn’t believe it, and if he believed it strongly enough to type it the evidence was there someplace, even if it was just casual comments now and then. I suspect the magazine may take some hits in both circulation and ad revenue over this. Won’t kill them, but it’ll get their attention.
And, this points out that the firearms industry needs to pay close attention to who it gets in bed with. Millner did exactly the right thing: respond immediately and firmly.
And, Mr. Millner – ever thought about going into the EBR business? You could start with a 20 gauge 1100 tactical, and maybe a 7615 in 7.62X39.
February 19th, 2007 at 11:40 pm
I’m willing to forgive Mr. Zumbo and call off the dogs, but I’m also very glad he got strung up by the balls in front of the whole Innernet.
With a new, stricter version of the AW ban having been recently introduced in Congress, there are alot of “Blue Dog” Democrats and Spineless Moderate Republicans who needed an object lesson in what happens to you when you advocate banning “assault weapons”.
February 20th, 2007 at 12:05 am
As a wise man once said: “Trust, but verify”.
Did you believe Mel Gibson when he said “I don’t really believe those things about the damn Jews!”?
Did you think his apology meant that he’d really changed his mind? And Gibson’s apology was an apology. He grovelled. He said, “”There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of anti-Semitic remark.”
I was far more impressed with Gibson’s apology – where he didn’t try and prove he really didn’t mean it – than Zumbo, who *harrumph* Has Been To The NRA Convention Eight Times! *puff puff*.
Zumbo meant what he said. Has he changed his mind? Personally, I don’t think so. Sure, he might have. But in his original post, he said that his information was that the rifles were “tackdrivers”. Now, if you’re a outdoorsman/hunter/shooter – and I tell you I’ve got a “tackdriver”, do you immediately dismiss it?
His claims don’t pass the Chewbacca defense. It Does Not Make Sense! They’re tackdrivers, and should be outlawed? Huh? He’s a 8 foot tall Wookie, running around on Endor with Ewoks!!!
Hell, he’s probably just picked up Bushmaster or Barrett as a new sponsor, and next season will have him hunting with a 6.8 AR. We’ll see if his newfound “open eyes” (that managed to miss the biggest growth areas in shooting in the last 30 years) stay that way.
Maybe you’re right, and he meant it. I don’t think so, but only he knows whether he does or not.
February 20th, 2007 at 12:19 am
pdb just IM’ed me this link: Down a bit appears to be Michael Bane.
Jim Zumbo once asked me how many guns I owned, and I said I didn’t know, but the answer was, “A lot.” He said, “I’ve taken animals on every continents with 7 rifles.”
I guess part of my reluctance to let bygones be bygones with Zumbo – is that this is the time to get this message to the other people who think the same way. Bane, among others, has utterly failed (despite best efforts) to do it with quiet conversation and facts.
Maybe Zumbo will finally start looking at Bane’s facts and stats, and make some phone calls. Or the other “Sporting Use” people will hear of Zumbo’s predicament. At best, change their mind, and realise the “sport shooters” are the movers, shakers, and boommakers. At worst, Shut. The. Hell. Up. I can live with worst case in that scenario, it beats the current status quo.
February 20th, 2007 at 3:52 am
Zumbo didn’t just made a dumb argument about assault weapons; he impugned the partiotism of everyone who own one. That’s what has people feeling so unforgiving: the article went beyond merely disagreeing over policy and into the realm of personal attacks. What’s more, his apology never really addressed this charge.
February 22nd, 2007 at 1:10 pm
We did not misinterput Zumbo, he meant exactly what he said.
He was arrogant and pious back in 1981 at a book signing in Vernal, UT for his first mule deer hunting book. He just got a little too boozed up and said what he really felt. Need to stay off the sauce when writing.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
You people are frightening.