I've remained (mostly) silent on this issue (the Jim Zumbo debacle) for several reasons. Not the least of which is that I hadn't until today had the chance to read Jim's article in S.W.A.T. Magazine.
I've read the debates here at The Firing Line, at The High Road and at Brother Ted's site. My opinion hasn't changed. Jim, having been educated (finally and under duress) in other forms of "gun play," can be a huge force for gun rights. Jim expressed it best in these words:
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Originally Posted by Jim Zumbo
My mistake was tumultuous - an error of the highest order. I had engaged my mouth (or fingers on the keyboard) before engaging my brain.
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Simple advice: Think Twice, Post Once. If you're any kind of regular on The Firing Line, you've heard that phrase, probably more than you care to remember.
Yet by Jim saying this, it shows that he knows exactly what he did and exactly how wrong it was. I'm not any kind of a mind reader, so how do I know this? From something else Jim wrote, just prior to the above:
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Originally Posted by Jim Zumbo
I didn't understand black rifles or the people who shoot them before February 16 - but I do now. They're the salt of the earth.
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Salt of the earth. Simple, ordinary, everyday people. Enjoying a love of guns, gun ownership, and a type of gun sport he had never ever considered before the debacle.
In that simple phrase, lays all the regret of a professional hunter and writer who has had his blinders removed and now sees a world, wholly different from the one he had always seen before.
Of course, the question remains: Has Jim changed?
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Originally Posted by Jim Zumbo
I can say, however, that the class was very entertaining and was one of the greatest events of my life.
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Not his hunts. Not his TV show. Not his blunder... But a simple tactical rifle class filled with normal everyday people. The salt of the earth.