New WarOnGuns Poll: Zumbo and Petzal

See the left margin for the new poll. How do you want to see the current firestorm resolved?

Results of last week's poll:

I, Terrorist

WarOnGuns is the bottom left "terrorist" link. Others include The Washington Post (go figure that one!), Outdoor Life, NRA-ILA, Remington, A Keyboard and a .45, Nuge Board, Blog O'Stuff, Guns and Game forums, Gun Law News, and The Firing Line (active links are on my blogroll).

I didn't link to this total loon because she's obviously screaming for attention, so why give her what she wants? Still, I'm not so far removed from enjoying boyhood cruelty that I can't have fun pointing and laughing, particularly when there's a good chance it'll be noticed and give Li'l Missy here a hissy fit.

And Now on to the Important News

I thought now might not be a bad time to examine someone who has called for the government to impose more disarmament edicts on you and me. This is from "A Judgment Call," my March 2005 "Rights Watch" column in GUNS Magazine:

Gun control advocate Britney Spears annulled her quickie Vegas marriage within hours on the grounds that she "lacked understanding of her actions to the extent that she was incapable of agreeing to marriage." Nine months later her understanding had evidently ripened, because, oops, she did it again, marrying a backup dancer who had fathered a two-year-old and a newborn with another woman.

Based on her support of an "Open Letter to the NRA," it is Britney's opinion that a host of additional gun restrictions should be enacted. After all, you may not have the mature judgment to safely possess guns.

On Forgiving Jim Zumbo

Surely we can do better than 17 signatures to date. [More]

That was tongue-in-cheek in case you're wondering. These are touchy times, and the issue is radioactive. Still, I never got into this game because I thought I'd end up popular.

Actually, I really don't mean to pile on and I'm staring to incline towards taking the foot off his throat--at least mine. First, Claire wrote a piece that I agreed with.

I feel sorry for the guy. That doesn't mean anything I say or do will change things, but like I said in two separate comments at Say Uncle's:

Me, I don’t forgive unless forgiveness is sincerely asked for, backed up by a profound apology and concrete actions to undo the damage and make restitution. On this score, I’m much more likely to welcome Mr. Zumbo back into the fold. I haven’t seen anything from Petzal except his acting as a rallying point for the Fuddites who are now getting national media attention.

and

I’m much more able to forgive poor dumb Zumbo–I’m honestly starting to think the guy was more ignorant than arrogant, he appears thoroughly chastised, and he’s begging for a chance to redeem himself. I’m not that heartless that I can turn from that without a degree of sympathy.

Until I see similar contrition and atonement from Petzal, I see no reason to consider him anything but a cornered collaborator using bluff bravado and revisionist deception (which Unix-Jedi has brilliantly exposed) to save his skin.

Zumbo is toast. I see no point in continuing to beat his hanging corpse like a piñata. If he does want another chance and people give it to him, I won't rail against them or him--unless he proves himself undeserving.

Petzal is another matter. He was an enabler of tyranny in our hour of need. His response has been one of arrogance and equivocation, daring the hounds that have him at bay to charge in, and that's probably due in no small part to knowing what the pack will do to him if he shows weakness.

You're right, Mr. Petzal--some of us do have long memories. Some of us were fighting this with all resources at hand when you abused your privileged forum and did your utmost to convince your sporter audience that we were disposable--while the federal ban was being debated in the media, and just short months before its passage.

How could partisans not have long memories when it comes to collaborators?

This Day in History: February 25

On this day in 1779, Fort Sackville is surrendered, marking the beginning of the end of British domination in America’s western frontier.