I'm actually kind of impressed by Remington.

By now most of y'all have heard the tale of Zumbo. Briefly, a hunting writer for Outdoor Life wrote a divisive criticism of military-style semi-automatic rifles for field use, and called them "terrorist rifles." If he had just stated that he found hunting with AR-15s and AKs to be distasteful to him, he would have been on pretty solid ground. To be honest, I don't take 'em out in the hunting field myself, finding a certain class to slower, more traditional styles of hunting firearms. Nope, I'm not criticizing those who do it so long as they conduct themselves ethically in the field (and unethical hunting can be conducted with anything from machine guns to speers-- it ain't the kitchen-- it's the cook.). I just personally --for my own self-- don't care to take 'em hunting. If Zumbo had just stoppe there, he probably would have rankled the feathers of a few folks who are very defensive about their hunting with 'em, but that's about it.

But he didn't. He called 'em terrorist rifles, and called for their outright ban in the hunting field.

[Here's why this is a problem. This guy calls himself a friend to the sportsman, and a friend to the gun owner. But he is afraid of a simple tool. Not the misuse of the tool, but rather, the tool itself. He made clear that some guns, in and of themselves, are evil. "No honest man" would need one, and all that. That way lies the slipperyist of slopes. When you declare the "assault rifles" off limits, then why not all semi auto rifles? Heck, why not pump actions? Lever actions? Repeaters at all? And ban those sniper rifles (you know-- all scoped bolt action rifles). Where does it stop? As others have pointed out more eloquently than I, the Second Amendment actually doesn't recognize a right to keep and bear sporting weapons-- it is specifically there for military arms. (See Miller.)]

Within minutes, the word spread. (That thread at The High Road has received 669 replies and 27,672 views, as of this writing.)

Within hours, the opposition to his statement had turned into a movement. Within a day, he'd posted a retraction.

Emails poured in to Outdoor Life and to his sponsors. The angry writers of these emails stated that they would retaliate to any further sponsorship of Mr. Zumbo's writing by boycotting the sponsors' products.

Before the weekend was over, Remington had cut Mr. Zumbo loose.

Now here's what's impressive about it: Remington really wasn't on the receiving end of any of Zumbo's criticisms. Beyond ammunition, Remington is heavily invested in the shotgun market, selling quality pump and semi-auto shotguns that are favored for hunting use and for defensive use. Remington also makes a find line of rifles, the most famous of which is the M. 700, which is pretty much an American standard as an accurate bolt action. While it's an economical and accurate rifle that is commonly found in a tactical variation in tactical armaments, it is most popular with sportsmen. There are other products, but that's the bread and butter for Remington. Sporting long arms, and some police and self defense longarms. VERY little of Remington's line or of their market share would be "tactical."

But Remington gets it-- customers are not happy with the guy that their company had chosen to endorse. Remington doesn't want alienate all those customers.

As Tamara puts it: "'An army of Davids'"... "that's how it works."

Go buy something in a green and yellow box today.