(Photo: OWAA/ Paul Queneau/ Facebook)
Last week, a group of 11 influencers belonging to the Outdoor Writers Association of America (OWAA) published an open letter in The Huffington Post calling for “responsible firearm regulation.”
I’m sure I don’t even need to say anymore as you know where this is headed. But below are the bullet points of what they’re proposing. Note this is where they “would begin,” meaning this is just the tip of the iceberg so to speak when it comes to infringing on the rights of law-abiding gun owners:
- An age minimum of 21 years to purchase any gun;
- Anyone on the Terrorist Screening Center’s “no-fly list” may not purchase or possess firearms;
- Anyone on Social Security disability due to mental illness may not purchase or possess firearms;
- Prohibit new sales of semiautomatic assault or tactical-style weapons;
- Prohibit new sales of semiautomatic shotguns or rifles (except .22-caliber rim fire) that can hold more than 10 rounds;
- Prohibit any accessory designed or mechanical modification intended a) to increase the rate at which any firearm may be discharged; or b) to increase the magazine capacity of a semiautomatic rifle beyond 10 rounds (except .22-caliber rim fire);
- Mandatory and universal background checks for all firearm sales;
- Prohibit sales of firearms except through registered/licensed dealers (no direct private sales);
- Enact gun violence restraining order authorities allowing courts to temporarily prohibit a person from purchasing or possessing firearms when a family member, community welfare expert or law enforcement officer presents evidence of a threat; and
- Repeal the “Dickey ban” on scientific research in the area of gun violence and implement the Institute of Medicine’s 2013 gun violence research agenda.
If this sounds like a script pulled right from the Obama era of hostility toward our right to keep and bear arms, it’s not a coincidence. The letter was penned by Obama crony, Daniel M. Ashe. As the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service director, Ashe banned the use of lead ammunition and fishing tackle on federal lands just as he and Barry were leaving office. A final, “Screw you” to gun owners. Thankfully, the Trump administration wasted no time in reversing the ban.
SEE ALSO: Mossberg Joins Springfield, Cuts Dick’s Off
Nine of the individuals who signed the letter are part of the OWAA’s Circle of Chiefs*, which is the highest conservation honor the group bestows. Three are past presidents. Point being, these aren’t just rank and file members. Here is the list:
- Daniel M. Ashe, former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service director
- Ted Williams, environmental journalist*
- Paula Del Giudice, outdoor writer and hunter*
- Mike Furtman, outdoor writer and photographer, hunter and former gun dealer*
- Jim Low, former president of the Outdoor Writers Association of America and 13-time
- recipient of the Izaak Walton League’s Outdoor Ethics Communication Award*
- Dr. Leonard Lee Rue III, wildlife photographer*
- Brian Rutledge, conservation leader and naturalist
- Scott Stouder, outdoor writer, conservationist and lifelong hunter*
- Dr. Kris Thoemke, outdoor writer, conservationist and hunter*
- Joel Vance, current member and former president of the Outdoor Writers Association of America*
- George Harrison, retired nature journalist*
- Rich Patterson, former president of the Outdoor Writers Association of America*
Immediately, the head shed of the OWAA had to run damage control. In a press release, current executive director Dr. Brandon D. Shuler made it clear that the signatories of the infamous HuffPo letter do not speak for the organization.
“To be clear, the Circle of Chiefs does not set policy for OWAA. That authority lies solely with the OWAA Board of Directors, who are elected by the full OWAA membership,” said Shuler. “On this matter, the author and the signatories are speaking for themselves and not OWAA.”
“OWAA respects the rights of all individuals to express their opinions, but as an organization of professional communicators, we avoid advocacy on issues not related to journalism, Shuler continued. “Some OWAA members may agree with points made in the letter. Some may not. But the letter’s content does not represent OWAA policy.”
There’s a lot of company you keep quotes on the interwebs. But I thought this one by author Esmeralda Santiago was most fitting, “Tell me who you walk with, and I’ll tell you who you are.”
As discerning and conscientious readers do with this information what you wish.
They are called Fudds. In a sense they do more damage to the second amendment than the full fledged gun grabber does. What they do is nothing new. They go around telling people they own a gun and or they are a hunter, in other words cite their alpha side not to look like a flaming liberal. Then they go on their rant telling everyone what they shouldn’t be legally allowed to own, and how many more hoops they should have to jump through to buy a gun. Then they go on to tell that all these restrictions don’t violate the 2nd amendment because ; they are a gun owner too. However like I said, they are only anti gun FUDDS, who in many cases just bought a gun to claim that they are a gun owner while at the same time are spewing anti gun propaganda.
The restraining order – this has got to go. Too many lawyers are using this inappropriately. I was a long time military competition shooter, instructor, and hunter safety instructor. One day my wife grabbed the kids and fled – which started a nasty divorce and custody battle. Her lawyer entered court papers saying my wife was ‘scared’ of all the guns in the house and I carried a concealed pistol – she put a domestic violence restraining order on me. Plus lots of other allegations. I get my day in court and the judge asks me about ‘all the guns’ – I tell him I have no clue why she would be scared. She is a NRA Class C shooting coach, half the guns are hers, the big buck deer mount and big bear on the wall in our living room are hers not mine. Judge looked at her and said, “Lady, you best never come into my courtroom again”. And dismissed everything. A few months later I got full custody of my boys who are all in college now. It rots that lawyers are using abusing DVRO’s threats to make their female clients look like poor little waifs.
By the looks of the names…all rich and white…showing their white guilt…
VAST majority of gun crimes are by handguns…and many by young brown and black men…
35,000 gun deaths a year…65% suicides…
how many by long guns of ANY type? a few hundred at most
how many by AR/AK variants? a few dozen perhaps
guess this is the foot in the door approach…but it will do NOTHING to lower gun death rates in general…
Anyone on the Terrorist Screening Center’s “no-fly list” may not purchase or possess firearms-
Please POST this list…so people can see if they are on it. Provide a way to get OFF the list as well…or at least petition to do so.
Prohibit sales of firearms except through registered/licensed dealers (no direct private sales)
This would be as hard to enforce as current illegal drug sale laws.
How about enforcing all current laws? No more probation for straw buyers and sellers…real jail terms for criminals using guns in crimes…prosecution for lying on federal forms…a roundup of guns from gang members and criminals
Oh right…THAT would get racist fast.
So if one gets on this government terrorist list with no due process of law how does one get off? That is a gulty until proven innocent completely against liberty. It’s also really part of our Constitution telling people they cannot sell a privately owned gun to a neighbor they have known for years without a background check. You like Federal Firearms Licensed Dealers keeping lists of all their gun sales so a tyrant can try to ban and confiscate them later? Yes the Federal Firearms Licensed Dealers do keep lists of all their gun sales.
I’ll take this conversation down an incredibly boring, but relevant path that no one seems capable and willing to navigate. Everytime there is a “mass shooting” that gains any level of national attention by the media, the politically motivated bs begins: “assault weapons” are evil and they must (finally) be banned. Furthermore a host of long overdue gun-control measures must be implemented immediately to save the human race from itself. Occasionally there is the obligatory casual mention of the real problem – hint: it’s not the gun people. No, the real problem is the mental illness of the individual holding the gun. I realize that this doesn’t play into the left’s agenda, which is to eliminate guns and let there be NO confusion, that is their ultimate goal. Pass all the laws you can write. Ban all the magazines and types of weapons you so desperately desire to eliminate. Nothing will change until mental health/mental illness is addressed. Period.
We’ve already seen where this has gone in Europe. Trucks, knives and explosives have become the tools of choice to cause the same mayhem as here in the States.
You need to stay on this topic. Keep these names in front of the public until people become nauseated. These anti-American twits need to be spotlighted and ridiculed relentlessly for at least the next few months.
I want to just remind everyone of a very important point that the lefty’s used in order to further the lie’s of their Agenda! July 2, 2013 I believe it was, the obummer administration did away with the The Smith-Mundt Act which has ensured for decades, since 1948, that government-made media, intended for foreign audiences doesn’t end up on radio networks broadcast within the US. An amendment tagged onto the National Defense Authorization Act removed that prohibition and now not only has it unleashed Government propaganda but the media has seen this as a green light to just make stories up and run them with not one shred of truth to it! It has made it up to individuals to dig for the truth and that is one reason they want control of the internet to stop alternative news from bringing us the truth!
Obumner Administration? And that means it’s ok to term the current one the PeePee Administration? People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw rocks! Let’s try to be adults here.
Today a mentally diseased boy in Texas, killed ten of his classmates and wounded an additional ten.
Proper training will not make any difference to intentional and aberrant behavior.
Knee jerk gun control legislation will not make any difference to intentional and aberrant behavior.
Progressives will no doubt try to ban everything with the exception of lousy parenting and permissiveness!
Awhile back I passed a local church with the following missive, “It’s not gun control, it’s son control “!
We have a serious generational mental health and culture problem that remains criminally unaddressed!
Always amazes me that print media crowns itself the expert of any subject it writes about. The scary part in this case is the implication of this agenda would effectively not only strangle the 2nd but also the 4th and 6th amendments.
If I could speak to this group, I’d ask them what they really think freedom is or means. I’d also ask them why they queue up to hand over the rights, purchased in blood, that made this country great.
Never heard of any of these writers. Must write in rags I don’t read. They sound like puppets of the Left.
Real journalists research and write the FACTS. They leave their opinions at home.
Outdoor writers? I read a lot of outdoor themed publications, but I have not heard of any of they people.
This just sounds like more Huffpoo Bloomberg propaganda.
Yawn…
Oh, I get it now. Just because you write a article for some magazine, your rights mean more than everyone else. I noticed that some of these so called writers were hunters. I wonder how these people will feel when the left bans hunting because it they ban hunting because it violates a animals rights.
How about this..If you want Training join the Military. Lost all respect for Zumbo years ago. Now too many Elite people think I know better than you. MOLON LABE. May Long she Wave..
I have done work for Paula Del Guidice at her home. I WILL be having a discussion with her about this!
These outdoor writers just don’t get it. Assume all of these restrictions are made into law. Hunters haven’t really been affected. But after a few shoot ups with a lever action or bolt action, the anti gunners will be coming for those guns as well and that will affect hunters. These writers must understand, liberals want ALL guns banned. Don’t let the leftist divide us into hunting gunners and tactical / 2A gunners. Stay united.
It looks as if the anti-gunners are succeeding, at least somewhat, in dividing the ranks of gun owners. It’s a shame that some actually fall for it.
Ah … the infamous Daniel Ashe … I crossed his path years ago … when he used deceptive data to justify a Fish & Wildlife service “activist policy” designed to remove farming from national wildlife refuges that had been farmed for decades to the benefit of waterfowl and numerous wildlife species. He was not shy about restricting those farmers’ freedom to operate in the same way that he is now focused upon taking freedom away from firearm owners. Without question, a not-to-be trusted person who has an overstated “resume” that he uses it to push his elitist ideas onto the rest of us … just another smarmy bureaucrat.
Read Jim Zumbo’s book. He was put through absolute hell for expressing his OPINION just as we all express our 2nd amendment right. And for that he got death threats, had to have security hired and nearly lost it all. Same with the great Dick Metcalf, he is a hell of a writer but suggested that the 2nd amendment could be changed to and not all rights are God given. This is true, you deserve nothing and have ZERO actual rights. Stay white and die are the only two things I have to do and I haven’t a single RIGHT anywhere, anytime. I’m an FFL, a competitive shooter and serious big game hunter. I use Yeti products and buy my children sporting gear at DICK’s. If you have the mental capacity that allows you to blow up a cooler that cost $500 because someone changed a discount program, I don’t want to be associated with you. Stop punishing good decent American people and companies because they had the balls to stand up and take a hard line. Whether you agree or not. It’s more than most American’s are capable of. Quit bitching, grandstanding, and hiding behind keyboards. Take a stand yourselves.
Molon labe, lefty.
Damien, Lenin would be proud of you standing up and taking the flak for all the “useful idiot” journalists. It certainly is true that “Tell mo who you walk with and I’ll tell you who you are”.
What you’ve told me:
1. You don’t believe in the Constitution…especially the part about “inalienable rights”.
2. What in the hell is “stay white”?
3.You support the anti-gun agenda…and Yeti…and Dick’s.
4. You’ve proudly stated that you DON’T stand with gun owners…but your hypocritical enough to take their money as an FFL.
5.Again, some good old fashioned hypocrisy:Stop punishing good decent American people and companies because they had the balls to stand up and take a hard line…you demand your respect, but deny it to anyone who disagrees?
6. Your claims of being deep in the gun culture will have to determined from your words and actions…which argue otherwise.
7. And finally, hypocrisy #3:”Quit bitching, grandstanding, and hiding behind keyboards. Take a stand yourselves”. I would answer here that we have, and we’ve taken it on demonstrably higher ground than yours.
Perhaps you might be more comfortable just coming out of the closet and openly being the socialist that you appear to be.
I no longer support dicks. I take my stand with my family’s dollars. If you really think you have no rights do a little research on citizens of North Korea or even China and Mexico.
Again, it will eventually take blood she to ensure freedom. Water the tree of liberty.
Those of advocating “mandatory” training in any way shape or form have your heads where the sun don’t shine.
And if I HAVE to tell you why, you really are lost.
And NONE of this would stop whacko mad shooters, to even intimate that it would or could is disingenuous at best.
Criminals, by definition, and whacko’s DON’T follow the laws!!!!!!
Good for them. Taking a public stand that may harm them professionally takes courage. The true test of character is when the right decision is not in your own best interest. They are entitled to voice their opinion. I agree with them. Our current state of AR/AK worship and the resulting mass slaughter by the crazies some of us bring into this world is NOT and acceptable price to pay for our gun nut hobby.
TROLL ALERT!
Yes Pete, take all the guns away from law-abiding citizens so that only criminals, the government and police have them and then we’ll all be sooooo safe, won’t we?
What will you want next after the gun market is removed. There is an end game or have you stopped short.
More group think. Why should I, that has been involved with firearms for the last 55 years that has never killed or accidentally or shot anyone with any firearm, be forced to attend intense training simply for the reason to make you feel better? Please use some critical thinking here. I do not know of any mass shooting that has occured by accidental shooting or by someone that didn’t understand a weapon’s ballistics.
Lets try this exercise for the sake of argument. Let’s require anyone that does not choose to own firearms be required to sit in a room with a firearm and then intensely stare at that firearm for a day. Then at the end of the session you must write a one page essay on why that firearm didn’t get up and shoot someone after you told it to.
This is a late April Fools joke, right?
About 10(ten) years ago there was a guy, Jim Zumbo that said the exact same garbage. Zumbo lost his job. Since then he has ‘returned’ to being a ‘gun writer’, claiming to have ‘learned his lesson’.
If there are any of listed who are still active in the business they should take heed of what happened to ol’ Zumbo. But I doubt any of them really give care.
I have to agree with our Special Forces Weapons commentor, Francis Garren. It woudn’t hurt if some kind of firearms training course was required for purchasing a firearm. Here in SC a hunter safety course is required to get a hunting license, and that includes basic firearms safety, though no firing. While many states still don’t require formal training to get a driver’s license, all have a “training period” for young drivers. So you go through a course once in your life before you can buy a gun. I don’t see a problem with the age of 21 to buy either. Most younger don’t have the money to buy themselves anyway. I’m sure there are some circumstances where they may need to, but not a real NEED to. I don’t mean no ownership under 21, just not being able to go out and buy a gun or ammo. Just because you’re under 21 doesn’t mean you’re not level headed, there are exceptions, but adding a little maturity for the masses can’t hurt. I know many think ANY kind of control or regulation is bad, but not necessarily. Let’s apply some sensibilities to control and have a good reason for it. Then maybe special license for things like high capacity magazines and such. Not quite as hard to get as suppressor and machine gun licenses, but some sort of registration maybe. It’s hard to justify a reason for more than 10-15 rounds in anything, even for self-defense. Target shooting, but then it’s just for convenience of not reloading so often. Overtaking or defending against the government just isn’t a good reason. It’s a different world than 1770. Besides, in that case you use your 10-15 rounds to get a “better” weapon, and you’ll be able to get ammo for it the same way…
The moment voting age, selective service and driving privileges are 21, I’m ALL for it.
No. Period. Look, I used to think like Frank or Francis, at least to a point. I’ve come to realize we are in an honest-to-God struggle right now with the kind of people who are intent on disarming every one of us. This isn’t the first rodeo for this ideology, and we’re acting like every other group throughout history that “trusted” people whose every other view was opposed. “Maybe if we appease them on this one little thing…..”
Wrong. Give them the tiniest of openings, and the flood is not far behind. No compromise is the best strategy against those with an oppressive ideology. No bans, “mandatory training,” nothing. We’ve taken care of our own for over 200 years, and we’ll do it for many, many more.
Correct , a dam doesn’t fail catastrophically until the maintenance of little seeps is let go. Now is a critical time to plug all the little seeps.
Spoken like a true FUD, troll or liberal Frank! You seem to think that you’re so smart that you know what’s best for the rest of us. You say “overtaking or defending against the government (the word is tyranny Frank) just is not a good reason” for high capacity magazines. Really? REALLY? And yet later you use that same scenario in a feeble attempt to buttress your argument! And as far as home defense goes, if there were a group of let’s say four violent scumbags trying to break into YOUR house in the middle of the night, would you prefer to protect YOUR FAMILY with a six shot revolver, a three round shotgun, or an AR loaded with 30 rounds? Which would you choose Frank? If you say anything but the AR, you’re either an idiot or a liar. You obviously think you’re wise enough to decide what the rest of us should be “allowed” to own Frank, and yet you can’t understand one simple phrase “…the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” You can take your “common-sense” gun control agenda and shove it up your arse Frank.
Let’s make the age 40. By then a citizen has proved themselves they are not a danger to society. Or maybe 55 so they could get a discount with an AARP card. Where will the madness end?
“Training” is nothing but a massive, expensive, bureaucratic impediment. I have plenty of training. I received it from my dad, and from other sources, and I don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars and countless hours for more “training” so that I can exercise my God given, constitutionally protected rights.
In the People’s Republic of Illinois, I have to get “training” for my CCW permit (which I should not need anyway) that is 16 hours of “this is the barrel, this is the cylinder, ….”, and all for about $300. I call Bravo Sierra on this.
How can one say they won’t need more than fifteen rounds for self defense? What if multiple attackers invade your home in the night? You are infringing the Second Amendment with statements like this. If firearms that hold sixteen or more cartridges scare you then do not buy them. Read this written by Larry Correia:
We should ban magazines over X number of shots!
I’ve seen this one pop up a lot. It sounds good to the ear and really satisfies that we’ve got to do something need. It sounds simple. Bad guys shoot a lot of people in a mass shooting. So if he has magazines that hold fewer rounds, ergo then he’ll not be able to shoot as many people.
Wrong. And I’ll break it down, first why my side wants more rounds in our gun, second why tactically it doesn’t really stop the problem, and third, why stopping them is a logistical impossibility. First off, why do gun owners want magazines that hold more rounds? Because sometimes you miss. Because usually—contrary to the movies—you have to hit an opponent multiple times in order to make them stop. Because sometimes you may have multiple assailants. We don’t have more rounds in the magazine so we can shoot more, we have more rounds in the magazine so we are forced to manipulate our gun less if we have to shoot more.
The last assault weapons ban capped capacities at ten rounds. You quickly realize ten rounds is terrible when you take a wound ballistics class like I have and go over case after case after case after case of enraged, drug addled, prison hardened, perpetrators who soaked up five, seven, nine, even fifteen bullets and still walked under their own power to the ambulance. That isn’t uncommon at all. Legally, you can shoot them until they cease to be a threat, and keep in mind that what normally causes a person to stop is loss of blood pressure, so I used to tell my students that anybody worth shooting once was worth shooting five or seven times. You shoot them until they leave you alone.
Also, you’re going to miss. It is going to happen. If you can shoot pretty little groups at the range, those groups are going to expand dramatically under the stress and adrenalin. The more you train, the better you will do, but you can still may miss, or the bad guy may end up hiding behind something which your bullets don’t penetrate. Nobody has ever survived a gunfight and then said afterwards, “Darn, I wish I hadn’t brought all that extra ammo.” So having more rounds in the gun is a good thing for self-defense use.
So how do we take revenge on these anti 2nd Amendment communists? We need to treat them like Dick’s, Field & Stream, Yeti, and the rest of the anti gun. Whoever they write for needs to feel the rath of pro 2nd Amendment.
Pat McManus: August 25, 1933 – April 11, 2018 (NOT on this list of fools)
Maybe Guns America could list a number of outdoor writers who encourage support for the Constitution? Or, at least recognize Pat with some kind of tribute for the inspiration he was to many of us.
I don’t see any real Americans on the list…. it’s a list of Communists, Socialists, Dirt Bags, and Cowards…. most are all 4. F them all.
I believe anyone wishing to purchase a semi-automatic rifle with large magazine capacity, should be required to attend an intense day long course in the safe employment of the weapon. A full understanding of the balistic capabilities of the types of ammunition used in these weapons, to include range time of actual firing. This applies also to anyone wising to purchase any kind of semi automatic pistol that has a magazine. The purchaser at the time needs to understand that they must also purchase the ammunition for this required training, and must comply within a reasonable time to attend this training or forfeit the weapon and ammunition back to the dealer. This would in my veiw eleminate many who simply fill out the required papers who have no real idea of how, or when they intend on even learning how to safely emply these weapons. Next the background check needs to make it abundantly clear that if the purchaser willfully lends or gives these fire arms to a known criminal, or mentally ill person who later commits a crime with these weapons, that they the purchaser will be held as a excessory to the crime. As a Special Forces Weapons man and sniper, Ranger, Speciall Forces, and Special Mission Unit etc qualified soldier and combat veteran, I feelt that far too many people are purchasing these fire arms without being qualified to safely employ them. This helps in my view to issue later. A firearm is not a toy.
And I think you are a friggin liar. A LIAR!! Not only that but I think you are a pansy @$$ little boy/girl who can not have a rational, educated debate because you are nothing but a leftist who hates everything about this country.
And I think that anyone posting their opinion on public forums should have to go through an intense, day-long course in Aristotelian logic, grammer, and spelling. A full understanding of how logic works, including the difference between dialectic and rhetoric, to include real practice on a test forum and actual writing where an idea stands up to logical scrutiny. This would eliminate many who propose logical fallacies and strawman arguments by people who think they are smarter than they actually are. Next, a background check needs to make it abundantly clear that the writer has no known totalitarian tendencies or inflated sence of self worth. This applies to anyone wishing to voice his opinion in any public setting, and he must comply in a reasonable amount of time or forfeit the keyboard and computing device back to the dealer. This would, in my opinion, eliminate many who fancy themselves as reasonable people who have absolutely no idea how liberty really works. As a sovereign citizen who works hard and pays taxes and values power to the people, I feel that way too many fools express thoughts on subjects they either know nothing about or do not clearly understand. Words are not toys.
But words can hurt people too… LET’S BAN THEM!!!
Thank you Phil for the humorous analogy.
Just seeing the FAL part of your user name was an indication to me that what you would say would make a lot of sense. Yup! I was right. VERY good post. Thank you.
More group think. Why should I, that has been involved with firearms for the last 55 years that has never killed or accidentally or shot anyone with any firearm, be forced to attend intense training simply for the reason to make you feel better. Please use some critical thinking here. I do not know of any mass shooting that has occured by accidental shooting or by someone that didn’t understand a weapons ballistics.
Lets try this exercise for the sake of argument. Lets require anyone that does not choose to own firearms be required to sit in a room, q
…and I do NOT believe that is what the framers of the Constitution, including the 2nd Amendment, intended. Moreover, if all your “military creds” are truthful (which I doubt,) then you are dishonoring the oath you took “to protect and defend.” Your time might be better spent taking a night course in basic English, spelling, and punctuation.
Aside from the unconstitutional posit of requiring training to exercise a right; The problem with any type of mandatory training is that the government can make that training unavailable or impossible to access in any reasonable manner. There is plenty of historical precedent.
Making matters worse, for example, the lunacy of the gun laws in NY state see it illegal for anyone to even handle a handgun before buying it so it is AGAINST THE LAW to train with your handgun before obtaining a permit.
No.
I’m surprised Jim Zumbo wasn’t on that list. I remember and pepperidge farm remembers what he said about AR rifles years ago,
Yawn. A bunch of nobody’s 99% of the American people have never heard of – and probably never will – proposes a bunch commie-pinko gun grabbing measures?
“Move along folks, nothing to see here”. I’m going back to bed… lol
Phuck ’em.
Do these stuffed shirts really matter. I mean, come on. In this day and age, do folks really concern themselves with some self-appointed, hierarchy of bovine smathering english majors. Nah.
It would be best that they retire to the recliner with a reprint of anything Nash Buckingham wrote. Maybe they could stroke their egos, like they envision themselves stroking their antique sxs lock boxed 12 bore.
A rather unimportant moment from a Geico commercial comes to mind. The Heckler points his finger and yells out “Boring” to the announcer. May we see these folks in much the same light.
David:
Actually, they DO matter. But, not in the way we might think.
Do ya remember Pat McManus? He’s well-published and was the high point of Outdoor Life for many years. I’m guessing Outdoor Life and Field & Stream subscriptions took a temporary dive when he retired. Outdoor Life was the only magazine I read back to front since he was always at the back.
Anyway, the point is he had a cult following and was read religiously by many ‘gun nuts’. If these writers are anti-Constitution, you can bet on cause and effect: either their cult following will agree with them and embrace whatever they say or, their readership will drop substantially. It just depends on how fanatical their followers are and where their money comes from. Unfortunately, they’re likely set for life and it won’t matter to them.