Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Zumbos opening statement at Nuges Site

Maybe he should check himself into rehab?

...and shave his ears?

I like Jim Zumbo. I like what he has written and I love his TV show. He made a mistake. We all need to get off his back now that he understands the scope of what he did. He is one of us. I hope he comes back strong.
I wish him nothing but good luck and fortune.

An excellent point.

As long as the penalty stays in force, I am willing to allow him to start working again as an UNPAID advocate to educate hunters on RKBA.

BMT

He hunts 200 days a year, wrote for 6 magazines, had a TV show, is 67 years old.....and he's unfamiliar with black rifles?

And the kicker...if you own a black rifle for the shear enjoyment of shooting it....is that now an "illegitimate" use of one!

Just fade away. No hard feelings, just go, now.

GB

I will briefly show my cynical side and then retreat. I have come to the place where I don't think Corporate America has a conscience, ethics or loyalty. It is, ultimately, the bottom line and can we do it and not get sued.

I have been a State Farm agent for 45 years. When my children were small we played a game that when a State Farm commercial appeared on TV they would have to stand at attention and salute.
My father was a State Farm agent so it's all I've known all my life. I was fiercely loyal to them and would not tolerate very much State Farm bashing.

I had a manager once that remarked, "Every payday they pay you what they owe you. They don't owe you anything beyond that and you don't owe them anything beyond that." I thought that he was full of it and you can't imagine my dismay when I discovered that I was the one that was full of it.

Now, don't get me wrong. So far as insurance companies go they are still one of the best but they do only what they are bound by contract to do. They are as PC as it is possible to be. I think that I refuse to retire because I know they want me to and they can't force me to retire.

Outdoor Life will hang Zumbo (or any of the rest of us) out to dry if it's the profitable thing to do. Nothing else matters to Corporate America or corporate anything else. Don't take this as a slam because a corporation exists to show a profit. I was the one who was living in a dream when I ever thought anything else.

I've gone back into my shell now.

Jim Zumbo isn't 1st guy in the public spotlight who shared his personal opinions in a public venue, only to find himself in a firestorm that resulted in significant loss of prestige and potential income. Off the cuff comments by Howard Cosell, Al Campanis, Joe Biden, and our own Big Stick come quickly to mind.

JZ's crash is a good lesson for all of us to think twice before clicking on "submit". I know that I have been more careful since starting a post that took on a life of its own back in 09/06.

Jeff

No he does not understand the scope of what he did.

"I�m learning that many of my pals own AR-15�s and similar firearms and indeed use them for hunting. I was totally unaware that they were being used for legitimate hunting purposes. That is the absolute truth. "


So if you own a black rifle and do not use it for hunting....is that illegitimate ownership?

If you go back to his article that is exactly what he implied by his remarks, and he has not retracted them.

GB

You are absolutely right Mickey. Whether it's Remington, or the bigwigs of Congress, the only thing they understand is fear and pain; the fear of losing money, and the pain of being kicked to the curb and having to live like the peons they scorned for so long. If nothing else, this incident with Mr. Zumbo is a good illustration of the power that gunowners wield when they present a united front.

The real tragdy is that we are allowing a golden opportunity to slip away. Mr. Zumbo could be a valuable advocate for 2A and hunting rights if we could just calm down, start thinking tactically, and steer him into the venues we want him to be involved in.

edb, that is why I am having second thoughts about public castration of the man. Les

If we're made to eat another Brady Bill, I expect that many will lay partial guilt at JZ's feet....and perhaps in a way...that's got some teeth to it. And if we get by without a scratch, we'll all feel quite fortunate.

I truly expect that JZ's ill-advised comments will be thrown back at us by those who will find it useful to realize their agenda. To hope that it won't......wishful thinking. But it is "us", as a whole, that have the biggest influence on how thing will essentially turn out.

Now that the JZ circus has essentially run it's course (less the long term fallout which will be too difficult and/or impossible to measure) and he's left to deal with his own life and thoughts, we need to become even more vigilant in the way we portray and express ourselves to the everyday public. We need to support those that would support us.

Write to your representatives and express your issues and concerns with them. Prior to voting, during any and every election, carefully study the candidates profiles. Make informed decisions based off of being informed.

This unfortunate chapter, in any measureable way, is past. The future of our rights really lies with us....in what WE do...more than what someone has or hasn't done to us.

It is a very tough call on that Violator. What influences me the most is the enormous potential for damage to a fundamental right. Just how do we manage the damage control?? Is JZ a possible asset or a contiued liability?? This is a matter of immediate importance, not one we can wait on. Somebody has to give him a gentle prod to get moving on this one way or the other. He can't be dragooned or all credibility is lost.People would see that as a flip flop aka John Kerry or Hillary and label him hypocrite. No. No high pressure tactics. Maybe Ted N. is our likely best vehicle to get JZ on track with us again. I HOPE!

And you are correct, an immediate change of heart will make him the Kerry of the gun world. Les

In all honesty I don't think Zunbo's words will do half the damage as the hunting community's reaction to them.

The antis will show proof of our make-up by way of the firestrom reaction, and Zubo being stripped of his livelihood as proof positive that we are a bunch of intolerant zealouts.

Don't get me wrong, IMHO Zumbo did it to himself, but the reaction is what will be focused on, far more than his words.

This will be a two part validation for the antis, first Zumbos opinions, then the fact that he was forced to conform to the NRA and it's members in an act of self preservation.

Actually Barkoff, the sverity of the results are NOT a bad thing. One of the slimiest traits of our enemies is how they have no standards of behavior by their "leaders" nor do they hold them to account for much of anything. Witness Pelosi giving high level job to Willaim Jefferson, democrat Louisiana. That reaction is a reward. I prefer a tougher standard

Let me get this straight.....we are damned by the anti's by his statements....and we are damned by the anti's by ours?

Hmmm, so since we have no hope in gaining the anti's good graces....let's stay strong and committed the the 2nd.

We do it by the vote AND by the pursestring.

JZ is not a victum of us, he got caught up in his over inflated eego. It happens from time to time.

GB

I can't remember if I've EVER seen this kind of reaction, except for the 1994 ban. The internet was not nearly as popular then so maybe we're just seeing more of it now in real time.

I am interested to see if Mr. Zumbo folows through with this pledge to "Educate the Fudds". (My definition of "Fudd" is: A gun owner who ONLY wants to protect "HIS" type of firearm. Bolt Action, Sporting Clays, Etc. & is willing to throw any other type under the bus because he's not affected by it's banning.) So don't come up with the "You think all hunters are Fudds" BS, It ain't so.

If he does follow through and make inroads into others who think like his blog made him appear, it CAN end up a positive overall clusterf*&@. One positive is the IMMEDIATE results the outrage created. We have a bit of power, yes? Let's use it in a constructive way to fight this latest ban in Washington.

Let's also watch with a critical eye, how these promises are kept, or not, and keep evaluating the progress, or lack thereof, by this feller who pissed off so many.

Time to use this power on the people who work for US in Washington and our respective State Capitols... YMMV, But I hope not.

I've said it before and i'll keep saying it; Jim Zumbo is a person with name recognition. Instead of destroying him, we should seek to educate him and push him to use his position to educate others. Look at the response from all over the web! Which translates into: all over the country. Unfortunately, the only thing that people want is to force him from the industry. IMHO, that's the worst thing we could do. What we need is positive exposure. Someone like jim Zumbo using an AR-10 in .308 to take a Mule Deer (the 4-legged kind) and then writing about it in a national magazine, is far more valuable than chasing him out of the industry forever.

What with the war in the Middle East, the only context most people have in regards to semi-autos is as a military weapon. They don't think about function or the lack of full-auto capability, the go with what they see. And they see terrorists using AK-47's and US Military using M-16's. When they see rifles that resemble those 2 at their local Cabela's, the images of war are what they think of.

In fact, how many hunting articles have ever been written by a "name" in which the writer used an AK, SKS, AR-15, or any of the other military pattern semi-automatic rifles? Further, when was the last time any of the "mainstream" gun magazines covered the National Rifle Matches where the AR-15 is the dominant rifle? Does anyone even remember that the average civilian can get basic marksmanship training on the M-16 at the Small Arms Firing School at Camp Perry every year?

If the other gun writers are too busy to do it, I'd bet that Jim Zumbo has time on his hands now, and would leap at the chance to participate and possibly revive his career.

I am gonna let all this go after this.

Zumbo is not a victim of corporate America. He volunteered for this.

I dont care how the antis take the huge reaction, as long as they take note of it. Dont keep poking the rattle snake.

I have read his few posts on Ted's site. You think a 40 year pro writer could say what he meant some of the time.
But I dont think it fair to pick apart a mans posts.

suffice to say I Hope he can become a powerful force in the second amendment camp.

I agree 100% with you Georgiaboy. He hasn't retracted the statement only manured (on purpose) around it. How can you state that you have a number of friends who have and hunt with AR-15's but do not know they hunt with them. I think the world is spinning way to fast for someone who supposedly has his finger on the pulse of the shooting industry.


Clyde