New York Times: A Hot-Selling Weapon, an Inviting Target

A Hot-Selling Weapon, an Inviting Target

By ANDREW PARK
Published: June 3, 2007

LAST February, Jim Zumbo, a burly, 66-year-old outdoors writer, got a phone call at his home near Cody, Wyo., from the rock star — and outspoken Second Amendment champion — Ted Nugent. “You messed up, man,” Mr. Zumbo says Mr. Nugent told him. “Big time.”

Two days earlier, Mr. Zumbo, a leading hunting journalist, outraged Mr. Nugent and many other gun owners when he suggested in a blog post that increasingly popular semiautomatic guns known as “black rifles” be banned from hunting. Mr. Zumbo, stunned that hunters were using the rifles for sport, also suggested giving the guns, prized for their matte black metal finishes, molded plastic parts and combat-ready looks, a new name: “terrorist rifles.”

Gun enthusiasts’ backlash against Mr. Zumbo was swift. He parted company with his employer, Outdoor Life magazine. Mr. Zumbo says on his Web site that he was “terminated”; the magazine says that it and Mr. Zumbo agreed that he would resign.
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Despite their menacing appearance — and in some cases, because of it — black rifles are now the guns of choice for many hunters, target shooters and would-be home defenders. Owners praise their accuracy, ease of use and versatility, as well as their potential to be customized with an array of gadgets. While the gun industry’s overall sales have plateaued and its profits have faded over the last decade, black rifles are selling briskly, says Eric Wold, an analyst in New York for Merriman Curhan Ford.
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<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/business/yourmoney/03rifle.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1>

A rational and well respected hunting expert is brought down by Ted Nugent and the black rifle crowd so the arms makers can keep one of their last profit centers no matter the utility to society.

...ease of use and versatility, as well as their potential to be customized with an array of gadgets." Yeah, right. It's all about the utility of the rifle, and not the fact that it makes these "hunters" feel like pocket Rambos when they waddle around the wilderness, trying to find something slow and stupid enough to shoot. Can anyone say "penis extension?"

I guess that explains Dick Cheney and Harry Whittington.

Can anyone say "ignorant perpetuation of stereotypes"?

Most gun owners aren't hunters, including my wife and I. So we have no need for a high-powered sniper-style deer rifle like a Remington Model 700 or a Winchester Model 70. My wife and I do, however, own small-caliber carbines with modern styling. They are economical to shoot, they don't beat up your shoulder like a full-power rifle would, and they don't look like something out of the 19th century. I'm a Gen-X'er, and strongly suspect that more "black rifle" owners are Gen-X and Gen-Y than are owners of World War 1 style deer rifles.

FWIW, AR-15's aren't powerful enough to hunt deer or elk with, unless you swap out the upper for an upper in a larger caliber like 6.8mm, 6.5mm Grendel, or .50 Beowulf (similar to .45-70). But .223 AR's are excellent target rifles, and dominate a lot of centerfire target competition, as well as making good HD guns.

It is illegal to hunt deer with an AR-15.

Heck, When I used to hunt with a rifle, I hunted with WWII and WWI era military firearm , M1 Garand, and a British Enfield.

Odd thing was, even tho the M1 is semi automatic, I only needed to fire it once, I don't understand why people think otherwise.

Lots of folks around here hunt with SKS's and they seem to only need to shoot their game once as well....Go Figure.

SKS's and AK type rifles fire the 7.62 round, they are LEGAL to hunt with.

I guess the folks that scream about how "no REAL" sportsman would hunt with one, simply CAN'T SHOOT, and see themselves spraying lead all over the woods.

It'll take something with a lot more wallop than an AR-15 to take down Micheal Moore or Rosie O'Donnell.

:smoke:

:hide:

:spray:

in my opinion they are ill suited for hunting most things except pest animals. They use a small caliber round.

However that should not make them illegal to own. They are a replica of an infantry weapon. They are not m16/m4 rifles.

They pose no more threat than any other weapon.

Only 3% of crime is committed with "ANY" kind of Rifle...

Why expend the political capital on these? Last time we did we got thrown out of the congress and senate, not to return for 12 years.

Think about it...Think about all that has happened since 1994...The ground that has been lost on so many issues, mainly because we TRIED to push thru a "black rifle" gun ban.

Yes, Tried, the ban is history now..The law that was passed, that costed us all that power, does not even exist now..

Was it worth 12 years out of power???

It's just all a part of the reichwing's assault on reason. It's time for the US to join the rest of the civilized world and change to much stronger gun regulation.

Remember Charlton Heston wanted to supply the rope to lynch Al Gore?

when I left the guard. They get to keep their 550's in their closet...

Probably not what you meant?

If MILLIONS of voters in America had not been "gun shy" of us.

And of coarse, Al Gore did not help himself when he called for registration, and more gun bans.

They had good reason, to be wary of us.

And thusly we find ourselves in the mess we are in now...

Apparently it is to you, since you keep trying to perpetuate the "Dems'll-take-yer-guns" meme.

Of course, you were the one who said that pro-gun Democrats should be thrown out of Congress, and the quarter or so of Dems who choose to own guns should be thrown out of the party...



As long as you take that approach, the gun-ban issue will be an albatross around the party's neck.


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The conservative roots of U.S. gun control
Dems and the Gun Issue - Now What? (written in '04, largely vindicated in '06, IMO)

A surprisingly balanced article...very refreshing. I didn't see any of the usual canards about "spray firing from the hip" or about low-powered carbines "blowing deer to smithereens." Hell has indeed frozen over, methinks.


I'm glad to see that the moral panic about small-caliber rifles with modern looks is finally fading. Truth is, rifles are not a crime problem and never have been.


Murder, By State and Type of Weapon (FBI Uniform Crime Reports, 2005, Table 20)


FWIW, I've owned a civilian AK lookalike and a Ruger mini-14 for years (the mini was my first rifle). A Rock River Arms &CFID=19477438&CFTOKEN=38979081">Elite CAR A4 would be my ideal rifle, but they are quite pricey.

A rational and well respected hunting expert

He WAS rational until he shoved both feet into his mouth clear up to his ass.

is brought down by Ted Nugent and the black rifle crowd so the arms makers can keep one of their last profit centers no matter the utility to society.
Aww you figured out the big secret. :rofl:

And from your other post:

I can stand RepuKKKes predatory economic policies, it's the lack of morality in America I can't stand and I see America's gun regulations and cultural norms about guns as issue number one.

Finally you admit the truth. This isn't about anything except your personal hatred of guns and gun owners. You see this as nothing less than a cultural war for the SOUL of America. Amazing how much you resemble the Protestant Evangelicals Fundamentalists that want to turn the clock back.

Enjoy following repuke "Sara Brady's" dicta....

To the letter....