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Saturday, February 24, 2007


Both Wrong

Kim du Toit
February 24, 2007
9:45 AM CDT

Much has been made of the Zumbo Episode in the past few days, with the gunnies crowing with delight at having nixed a Quisling, and writers like Field & Stream’s Jim Petzal writing that if a guy can’t just speak his mind, we’re all in trouble.

To all the chatroom heroes who made [Zumbo] unemployable, I have a word of warning: You’ve been swinging a two-edged sword. A United States in which someone can be ruined for voicing an unpopular opinion is a dangerous place. Today it was Jim’s turn. Tomorrow it may be yours.

Yes, in principle, he’s correct—except that he needs to wake up and smell the sponsor dollars. Somebody remind me of the last time any gun magazine published a critical review of a new gun. 

Can’t think of any? Nor can I.

So the concept of reining in your outermost thoughts is not a new one among gun writers, nor among any who write for publication. Hell, I never even wrote bad things about that loony old broad who ran for TexGov against Rick Perry (whom I support, big time), because her campaign bought space on this website.

But that’s not the real issue on the table, and it’s not the purpose of this post.

The way I see it, the Fudds are terrified that we “black rifle” supporters are screwing up the world for them, because we make such an easy target for the gun-banners. They’re scared of getting caught in the crossfire, as it were, and Petzal’s 1994 comment about the first AWB was the equivalent of tossing people off the sled so that the pursuing wolf pack might be distracted by the easy food.

The American public—and the gun-owning public; especially the gun-owning public—would be better off without the hardcore military arms, which puts the average sportsman in a real dilemma. An Uzi or an AKM or an AK-47 should be no more generally available than a Claymore mine or a block of C4 explosive.

Ignorance of the Second Amendment Principle which runs that deep needs a nail driven through its temples in the manner of Jael the wife of Heber. (It’s interesting to note that back in 1994, Petzal never got Zumbo’d for that disgusting statement—shows how far we’ve come, doesn’t it?)

But we gunnies aren’t entirely blameless in all of this, because when it comes to thoughtless opinion, we have more than our fair share as well. As irritating as the Fudds are to us, let’s be fair, and stipulate that the Red Dawner sect among the gunnies is as big a group of dickheads as the Fudds, just on the other side of the spectrum.

There’ve been times, as I’ve meandered through the wonderful forests of this Gun Thing, where I’ve wanted to reach out and kick someone in the ass, where someone has made a statement so profoundly stupid and ill-considered that it was almost like they were a Brady/Feinstein plant, an agent provocateur for the gun-banners rather than a gunny.

Several, regrettably, have occurred on this very website, and I’ve had to grit my teeth to refrain from reaching right through the screen and throttling the idiot. (I’m not going to give details: we all know what I’m talking about here.)

Behind the stupid comments of both the Fudds and the Black Helicopter-Fearfuls lies a mistaken First Amendment assumption: that one can say whatever one likes, and not face any consequences.

That assumption is flat-out wrong, and if there’s a lesson to be learned from the unfortunate Zumbo episode, it’s that ideas have consequences—especially stupid ideas like banning “assault rifles” from hunting, or that we all need to own Stingers against that dreadful day when the 121st Blue Helmet Tank Brigade rolls like Sherman through Georgia.

There is a flaw in the above, of course, and I know it full well. The Fudds are completely wrong in their thinking, and their short-sightedness is appalling. In fact, hunting is even more vulnerable to banning than gun ownership as a whole: just think of a list of eco-freaks’ top ten wet dreams, and the banning of hunting in the forests of their precious Mother Gaia would probably rank in the top three.

So hunters (of the Fudd persuasion) need to be really careful about pissing off their allies.

We all know that if hunting were to be banned, we’d lose a lot of gun owners and the consequences would be appalling. This is why any mention of hunting bans or restrictions will create strenuous opposition from all gun owners, even from those who, like me, seldom if ever hunt.

The Zumbos and Petzals of this world need to know that they should show the same solidarity with us.

Oh, and by the way, the same warnings apply to the shotgunners, because I’ve heard (personally) the same kind of drivel coming from their mouths too.

We’re all gun owners, and we all face a common enemy, the Handgun Control crowd, the AWB supporters, the anti-.50cal group, the “No Sniper Rifles” types and the Outright Gun Confiscators.

We gun owners, of whatever stripe or class, need to close ranks, and show a united face to those enemies, because they, and not us, seek to divide and conquer.

But it’s a little difficult to close ranks and present a united front to the enemy when the guy next to you is telling the enemy that it’s okay to take your gun away from you, as long as his gun is left alone.

That’s why it’s important to weed out the Zumbos and the Petzals, because at the end of the day, their philosophy is just plain wrong.

Today’s “assault rifle” ban will be followed by tomorrow’s “sniper rifle” ban, followed by “handguns”, “crossbows” and eventually, kitchen knives. I’m not imagining all this stuff: that’s precisely what has happened in Britain.

So unless the Fudds want to live in a future of gun licensing, proving “needs” for gun ownership, and the whole dreadful litany, they should get a clue, and stand next to us instead of stabbing us in the back.

And the Red Dawners can do us all a favor and shut the hell up, too.





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