Posted on 08/14/2007 12:47:46 PM PDT by neverdem
I bought a new (for me, anyway) rifle this past week.
It's black. It has a bipod on the stock, a black banana clip that looks like a handle, a scope with a lot of knobs and a shiny metal muzzle on the special oversized barrel.
It looks a lot like an assault weapon.
It is a Ruger 10/22, one of the most accurate and most popular sport/plinking rifles produced.
I got it, in part, for my granddaughter, who's ready to graduate from a pellet rifle.
She's no terrorist, and neither am I.
Nor, as many of you have repeatedly pointed out in somewhat less than complimentary terms, am I a (pick one):
Liberal-bunny/tree-hugging-firearm-wannabe.
Gun-toting, bloodthirsty, gratuitous-violence-seeking hunting-maggot.
Nope, I'm simply someone who loves to hunt, uses firearms as tools (OK, and for home self-defense these days) and recognizes the Second Amendment comes after the First.
It's hard to forget the firearms industry's feeding frenzy in February when Jim Zumbo sacrificed more than 30 years as the hunting editor of Outdoor Life by writing about assault weapons on his Internet blog after a beer over the campfire:
"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. . . . 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."
Some of the public -- some via e-mail within cyberseconds -- divorced themselves from Zumbo, including a disgustingly hypocritical Outdoor Life and National Rifle Association, both of which shot him down in flames in the very same breath with which they piously declared his right to speak his mind.
Others divorced themselves from Outdoor Life, the NRA and all the others that cut and ran.
Many of you supported him and some chided me for not saying the same thing a long time ago.
After a long look -- and without the field trips I'd hoped to take with some who invited me along for a firsthand look at modified weapons -- I have to agree Zumbo was wrong.
But not because of what he said.
More because of what he didn't realize.
We all wish there weren't assault weapons afield during hunting seasons -- or perhaps any other season.
But hearken to the middle ages of Europe. At the turn of the 16th century, Leonardo da Vinci (who also first envisioned metal tanks, submarines and machine guns) invented a wheel-lock firing mechanism so revolutionary it was declared an assault weapon by a Germanic emperor who bought a lot of them for his army, then banned private ownership.
That might have been a precursor of sorts to gun control, but more important ultimately led to improved hunting weapons.
Most modern sporting firearms are rooted in military applications.
The fact is, as one reader pointed out, one of the newest, the AR-15, when reduced to a five-round magazine and semi-automatic (pull-the-trigger-each-time), and with a scope mounted above the barrel, is an uncommonly steady hunting weapon.
The choice to use one (for example, my granddaughter's target practice with my new Ruger) doesn't brand him or her.
It remains a free country, and if someone wants to carry that message into the woods, the First Amendment allows the statement and the Second allows the shot.
Zumbo, by the way, is back on The Outdoor Channel, minus his job with Outdoor Life and most of the cut-and-run sponsors. He's had some preliminary discussions with Remington Firearms about resurrecting their bond.
"He's kind of relieved about not having those (magazine) deadlines all the time," said his wife, Madonna, from their log home outside Cody, Wyo.
Zumbo is in Africa, taking a wounded Iraq War veteran hunting, packing donated clothing (Safari Club International) into villages and filming the African story -- all worthwhile projects to which his former sponsors should be paying much more attention than the self-righteous zealots among their subscribers and members.
"Zum learned a lot and met a lot of very nice people," Madonna said. "I think the anonymity of the Internet allows the worst of people's personalities to come out."
Bill Monroe: 503-221-8231; billmonroe@news.oregonian.com To read his blog, go to http://blog.oregonlive.com/billmonroe
The 2nd Amendment is not about hunting.
Don’t 10/22’s have a rotary mag?
I thought Bill Monroe was dead. Sure do miss his mandolin and high lonesome singing.
I continue ask the same question, “Is there any ‘other’ kind of rifle?”
The 2nd Amendment isn’t about sporting goods...
I was thinking the same thing!
“Don’t 10/22’s have a rotary mag?”
Yes they do. 10 rounds.
I bought one several years back in black synthetic and stainless steel. A really fine little rifle as long as you keep it scrupulously clean.
The 10 round factory mag is rotary or some variation of that, aftermarket ones are banana clips up to 50 rounds I think.
IIRC, that was the original design. My friend or his brother had one with a Mannlicher stock.
I guess I failed to address your point.
You can buy aftermarket 30 round mags for them. (in case you are attacked by a whole bunch of squirrels at the same time)
Uh, is this guy defending Zumbo, attacking the NRA, or claiming the 10/22 is an “assault rifle”? I’d say all of the above.
I thought Bill Monroe was dead. Sure do miss his mandolin and high lonesome singing.
______
Bill Monroe gave his mandolin to Sam Bush. It likely doesn’t get out much anymore, now that Sam has a signature model Gibson.
And Pete Rowan does a pretty fair ‘impersonation’ of Bill during some of his shows. Pete was with Bill Monroe’s band in 1966, if I get the date right.
Rowan wrote a song about Ruby Ridge, to come back full circle to stuff freepers care about.
It is any gun the liberals, including Rudy,and Mitt, want to put on the AW list
Okay. I’ve been waiting for the right deal on a 77/22 to come along.....
I’ve been waiting for CA to legalize the AR again. How much longer, do ya think?
Assault is an ACTION not a device.
this particular one (10/22) is a little sexier when it comes dressed like this:
http://www.ruger.com/Firearms/PDF/PartsBooklets/E16.pdf
I just re read my pocket sized Constitution and did not see where the 2nd Amendment had anything to do with squirrels or ducks.....
Meadow Muffin
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