Snowflakes in Hell

According to David Codrea, the FAA has retracted its collective rights statement.  How long ago was it that we pointed this out?   The sad part is, they probably acted with light speed in government terms.  It’s good news though, because it means it was the FAA not being aware of the administration’s position, rather than the administration deliberately retreating from the earlier position.

I’m a firm believer when a company goes to bat for you, it’s nice to say thank you.  I sent this to Remington a few minutes ago:

Dear Remington,

I want to thank you for your support in the recent controversy over Jim Zumbo’s unfortunate comments that were derogatory the AR-15 shooting community.  While I hope we can find some way to heal the wounds between our community and Mr. Zumbo, I was glad to see Remington so quickly distance itself from his statements.

I often buy Remington ammunition for my AR-15, and will be sure to continue doing so, and will encourage others to do so as well.

Thanks Again,

Sebastian

I think it’s especially important since so many of us jumped the gun and went after Remington over the whole Zumbo thing when they were merely mentioned incidentally.  Sometime soon, I’m going to head up to Cabela’s and buy some Remington .223.  Everyone else should be nice and pick up some too as a thank you to a company who’s willing to stand with us on taking the second amendment seriously.

I’ve decided to e-mail the Brady Campaign and get the real story on the MySpace profile. Go take a look, because there’s a lot of choice stuff being said there, that if actually coming from someone associated with them, is definitely quite revealing as to how far they are willing to take it.

Despite the fact that I despise the Brady Campaign, we’d all be pissed off if someone in our community was printing outrageous stuff masquerading as an NRA spokesperson, so I think in the interest of fairness, we should try to find out the truth behind this MySpace user. I know these folks aren’t always fair with us, but I think if we need to consistently take the high road. It helps build our credibility as a community.

So when the Brady’s respond, I’ll post it. If they don’t, I’m going to take that as a statement that they don’t really wish to distance themselves from these statements, in which case we can all feel free to quote away. They claim they will respond within 72 hours. The clock ticks ;)

UPDATE: The Bradys have responded. They are not associated with the MySpace Blog.

When controversy erupts within our community, we need to not be so quick to eat our own. Early on there were many ill considered calls for boycotting Remington, even though they merely got an incidental mention from Zumbo. I think putting pressure on Outdoor Life was appropriate, but I have to admit I’m somewhat disappointed that Outdoor Life has responded by taking the Zumbo Blog down.

While I think that Zumbo’s statments were assenine, and the apology not quite enough to make up for the damage somegthing like that can do to us, I pretty strongly look down on trying to erase history. You can’t take stuff back on the Internet. That’s why we’re so angry about this.

I don’t want to see Zumbo lose his writing job, or have his blog taken down, because, as much as I’m upset over his statements, I genuinely believe they were based completely on ignorance, rather than on malice. Let Zumbo continue his blog. In the coming days, we can see where his heart really is on the issue. We’ve given him his baptism by fire into the blogosphere, and now let’s see which side he’s really on.

Folks, I have to tell you, I think we have some real allies out there in the industry who are willing to go to bat for us. This from Cabela’s forums:

While Cabela’s believes everyone has the right to express their own opinions, we strongly disagree with Jim Zumbo’s February 16 posting on his Hunting with Jim Zumbo blog on Outdoor Life’s Web site.

Throughout our 46-year history, Cabela’s has firmly supported all aspects of shooting sports. We strongly support the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States and the right of every U.S. citizen to purchase, own and enjoy any legal firearm of their choosing.

While we fully support Mr. Zumbo’s First Amendment right of free speech, we believe his opinions on this matter are counter to those shared by Cabela’s and many of our customers. Cabela’s Legal Department is currently reviewing contractual obligations and commitments regarding our sponsorship of the Jim Zumbo Outdoors television show.

Wow. This on the heels of Remington severing ties is pretty serious. I think we all need to go to Cabela’s and buy some Remington ammunition or maybe a shotgun, or something, pronto.