read the article above <\/a>first.\u00a0 I\u2019m not going to rehash everything in there, but comment on a few points that I think are interesting or important.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<\/span><\/font><\/p>\nJust to let everyone know where I stand, I am a lifetime member (endowment member, actually) of the NRA.\u00a0 I resisted joining for quite some time because I felt the organization was not truly representative of \u201cme\u201d.\u00a0 They are, admittedly, avid and effective defenders of the Second Amendment.\u00a0 Previously, however, I had a little bit of trouble with their \u201cslippery slope\u201d arguments against almost all forms of gun regulation.\u00a0 Two things changed my mind.\u00a0 First, someone said that the NRA needs me to help be that voice of reason and moderation, a point of view I believed.\u00a0 Second, after doing some research I found a lot of their positions reasonable, their arguments cogent, and the majority of their goals in line with my own.\u00a0 I am a gun owner (handguns, long-guns, and shotguns), but I am not a hunter.\u00a0 I own firearms for sport shooting and self-defense.\u00a0 In this analysis I am not going to go into my personal decisions about hunting or shooting, or why I made the choices I did.\u00a0 If you\u2019re curious about that\u2026 ask the question and maybe I will answer it.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<\/span><\/font><\/p>\nSo, on to \u201cmy comments\u201d.\u00a0 Basically, I have three, two about Mr. Zumbo\u2019s comments and one about the characterizations of the NRA and gun owners in the article.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n\u201cExcuse me, maybe I\u2019m a traditionalist, but I see no place for these weapons among our hunting fraternity.\u201d \u2013 Jim Zumbo<\/span><\/font><\/em><\/p>\nI have to say, I agree with Mr. Zumbo about that.\u00a0 I\u2019m not a hunter, so I can\u2019t really claim membership in the \u201chunting fraternity\u201d, but I have to say hunting in general is not a very \u201csporting\u201d prospect, hunting with firearms less so, and hunting with long-guns that have a high-rate of fire, large magazines, and other accoutrements probably the least sporting.\u00a0 Hey, its just my opinion.\u00a0 Hell no, I wouldn\u2019t hunt a bear (or quail for that matter) with a pointy stick, but I also wouldn\u2019t hunt him with a H&H Double or an AK-47.\u00a0 So, if<\/u> Mr. Zumbo\u2019s comment was an indictment of hunters who use \u201cthese weapons\u201d to create an even more un-level playing field, hey he\u2019s got a point.\u00a0 I have to say, however, using any firearm (or ranged weapon) against any animal is not exactly a \u201cfair\u201d competition.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n\u201cAs hunters, we don\u2019t need to be lumped into the group of people who terrorize the world with them\u2026 I\u2019ll go so far as to call them \u2018terrorist rifles\u2019.\u201d \u2013 Jim Zumbo<\/span><\/font><\/p>\nWell, there\u2019s the rub isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 This comment, I do take exception to, and it appears the rest of the NRA and the hunting community were right behind me.\u00a0 What\u2019s wrong with it?\u00a0 Where should I start?\u00a0 First, we don\u2019t call mini-vans \u2018terrorist vehicles\u2019 (many IEDs are planted in mini-vans), or 727s \u2018terrorist airplanes\u2019, or Iraq a \u2018terrorist country\u2019 (even when Saddam was in power).\u00a0 As a general rule, I despise sensationalist labels, and this is probably one of the worst.\u00a0 Labeling something or someone because of its \u2018media connotation\u2019 is, to me, akin to racism.\u00a0 That aside, rifles aren\u2019t terrorists and I hate the idea of redirecting that responsibility from the people to the tools, and let\u2019s be honest\u2026 terrorists would use and do use anything they can, from rifles to rocks to bottles of gasoline.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\nFinally (and this is also directed at those who demand that \u201cassault rifles\u201d be outlawed), there is no standard definition for the term \u201cassault rifle\u201d.\u00a0 The Clinton administration attempted to ban \u201cassault rifles\u201d, the bill defined an \u201cassault rifle\u201d as a rifle with a pistol grip, a bayonet lug, and a magazine capacity of 15 or higher.\u00a0 So everyone started getting AK-47 knock-offs without pistol grips (they had stock grips that do the same thing but look different), no bayonet lug (I\u2019m sure the bayonet-toting bad guys were crushed), and a 14 round magazine\u2026 much safer.\u00a0 The problem is that you can\u2019t regulate the weapons based on caliber (many rifles designed for the military use the same caliber as civilian hunting rifles), or magazine size (how many is too many?\u00a0 Two?\u00a0 The industry will design some way around that, and its silly anyway), or how a weapon \u201clooks\u201d.\u00a0 The bottom line \u2013 a .22 caliber single-shot revolver will kill you just as dead as an AK-47 or .30-06 hunting rifle or a shotgun or knife or a shovel.\u00a0 The difference in lethality between ranged weapons are negligible.\u00a0 There are only three meaningful differentiators concerning firearms \u2013 1) rate of fire (fully automatic vs. semi-automatic), 2) skill (which includes safety), and 3) intent.\u00a0 We already have very effective laws concerning rate of fire, don\u2019t need any more.\u00a0 Background checks and similar rules are supposed to weed out those of ill-intent.\u00a0 What we really need are regulations that require training and safety instruction for gun ownership\u2026 not laws that single out firearms based on how they \u2018look\u2019 or who else uses them. <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<\/span><\/font><\/p>\nSo, that takes care of Mr. Zumbo\u2019s comments, what about the article in general?\u00a0 Typical Washington Post \u201ceditorial disguised as article\u201d shenanigans.\u00a0 Mr. Zumbo made a comment directly against the interests of his supporters (Remington) and employers (Outdoor magazine), they are perfectly justified in dropping their support of him\u2026 its their dime.\u00a0 To criticize the \u201cgun lobby\u201d or the NRA for \u201cturning their backs\u201d on Jim Zumbo despite his \u201cnumerous apologies\u201d is quite disingenuous.\u00a0 How many articles in the Post support forgiveness for Mel Gibson\u2026 who was drunk, apologized profusely, and did NOT make \u201canti-Semitic\u201d remarks (he made stupid, ill informed, and inaccurate remarks about the Jewish people\u2026 but they were hardly \u201canti-Semitic\u201d)?\u00a0 Anyway, just as the Dixie chicks learned when they criticized a political figure the majority of their fan base supports\u2026 your comments have consequences, and its not censorship unless its done by the government.\u00a0 Therefore, quit chapping the NRA and the others for reacting the way they did.\u00a0 I am sure the NRA\u2019s opposition would react in a similar way.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<\/span><\/font><\/p>\nNow that my rant is drawing to a close, I will share with you some interesting facts about firearms and firearm ownership:<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/font><\/span><\/span><\/font> More children in the U.S. die from drowning in backyard pools that from shootings (accidental or otherwise)\u2026 how come Paul Newman doesn\u2019t have a weepy commercial about that?\u00a0 Studies that claim otherwise (9-14 gun-related child deaths per day, typically) count everyone under the age of 24 , and the majority of those died during the commission of a crime.\u00a0 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/font><\/span><\/span><\/font>Firearms are used three to five times more often to stop crimes than to commit them.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/font><\/span><\/span><\/font>Over a period of years, Britain gradually slid down the \u201cslippery slope\u201d of \u201cgun control\u201d, ending with outlawing all firearms in 1998.\u00a0 On OCT 13, 2002, London\u2019s Sunday Times<\/span><\/em> reported that \u201cBritain\u2019s murder rate has risen to its highest level since records began 100 years ago.\u201d<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I said I’d put a post written by Gene on the blog? And then 26 days passed and I hadn’t done it yet? Well, HERE! (And please remember that Maaahhh Huzzband is a lifetime member of the NRA).\u00a0 OK, read the article above first.\u00a0 I\u2019m not going to rehash everything in there, but comment…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sweet-things-my-husband-has-done"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/laineyd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/laineyd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/laineyd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laineyd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laineyd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/laineyd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/laineyd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laineyd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laineyd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}