Zumbo had no clue how big the following was for military sporting arms when he wrote his blog singling out a specific type of rifle based on how it looked, not how it operated. He himself admitted that he was living in a vacuum, not knowing that there was a big following for fans of the AR and AK platforms who hunted with them.

The guy was a writer, a spokesman for the gun industry, and a hunter, yet he called for a ban on the use of certain guns just because of how they look. What a boob.

In case somebody wants to refute that fact that he "was" a spokesman for the firearms industry, he worked for Remington on a contract basis, Remington is a firearms manufacturer, and their largest selling centerfire ammunition, by caliber, is the .223 Remington. This cartidge is the "downloaded" version of the 5.56mmx45mm miltary cartridge that is used in the M16, M4, CAR15, and SAW that our folks in the armed forces are using overseas.

Here is what he wrote.

As I write this, I'm hunting coyotes in southeastern Wyoming with Eddie Stevenson, PR Manager for Remington Arms, Greg Dennison, who is senior research engineer for Remington, and several writers. We're testing Remington's brand new .17 cal Spitfire bullet on coyotes.

I must be living in a vacuum. 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 had no clue. Only once in my life have I ever seen anyone using one of these firearms.

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. They tell me that some companies are producing assault rifles that are "tackdrivers."

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 praries and woods.

After about 7500 replies to this and his apology, this is what his former employer wrote.

Madison, North Carolina – As a result of comments made by Mr. Jim Zumbo in recent postings on his blog site, Remington Arms Company, Inc., has severed all sponsorship ties with Mr. Zumbo effective immediately. While Mr. Zumbo is entitled to his opinions and has the constitutional right to freely express those opinions, these comments are solely his, and do not reflect the views of Remington.

“Remington has spent tens of millions of dollars defending our Second Amendment rights to privately own and possess firearms and we will continue to vigorously fight to protect these rights,” commented Tommy Millner, Remington’s CEO and President. “As hunters and shooters of all interest levels, we should strive to utilize this unfortunate occurrence to unite as a whole in support of our Second Amendment rights.”

We regret having to terminate our long-standing relationship with Mr. Zumbo, who is a well-respected writer and life-long hunter.

I must say that Chester Allen, a local outdoor writer for The Daily Olympian, presented a fair and balanced reponse to his article about the demise of Jim Zumbo. Many of the folks whom he quoted have the same values as myself. Chester's article can be read here: Chester's article

We need to stick together folks. A firearm is a tool, regardless of what it is made of, or how it looks. Zumbo certainly has learned that lesson, hopefully others will not have to do the same.

Can you imagine someone saying the same thing about a timeless classic like the 1903, K98, or other sporting arms with military roots? The AK and AR platforms have been around since the late 40's and early 60's, respectively, so I guess they are also classics, in their own way.