Huffington Post Fuddwriter Attack on 2A Gets Weak Disavowal from OWAA

USA – -(Ammoland.com)- An open letter in The Huffington Post authored by self-proclaimed “hunters” affiliated with the Outdoor Writers Association of America declares war on the Second Amendment.

“Some OWAA members may agree with points made in the letter. Some may not. But the letter’s content does not represent OWAA policy,” Executive Director Dr. Brandon D. Shuler quickly in a Friday press release. He was doing damage control in reaction to the preliminary terms of gun owner surrender authored by Dan Ashe, Obama’s Fish and Wildlife Service Director. Ashe is the career bureaucrat whose parting shot on leaving office was to issue a lead ammo ban directive.

Shuler had to get involved because the letter had been signed by nine “distinguished members of the Outdoor Writers Association of America [who] identify themselves as members of the Circle of Chiefs.” Three of them were past presdients.

The HuffPost hit piece is yet another example of “Fudds” subverting the Second Amendment. Before anyone gets too bent out of shape over the term, understand that, as used here, it is not meant to disparage hunters and sport shooters who promote the right to keep and bear arms. I call those people “friends.” In order to qualify for the “Fudd” designation, they have to go the extra mile of throwing fellow gun owners under the bus, especially those who are in it for the rights of armed citizens as envisioned by the Founders.

They not only have to disparage non-“sporting” arms (ignoring that all arms began as “weapons of war”), they need to advocate infringements on the right to keep and bear them. And now might not be a bad time to remind ourselves on where the terminology “sporting purpose” came from.

“We do not need AR-15s or any assault-style weapon to hunt game,” Ashe & Co. declare, showing that among other things, their version of “shall not be infringed” involves gun bans. As the saying goes, “The Second Amendment ain’t about duck hunting,” and what it is about requires an armed citizenry being able to provide a deterrent to organized aggression and tyranny.

But that, of course, is hardly all they’re after.

“Here’s where we would begin,” the Fuddwriters elaborate, meaning once they achieve those goals they’ll be back for more. I have taken the liberty of translating the wish list from gun-grabber weasel-wording to what it is they and those they front for are really demanding:

1. Deny firearms to citizens old enough to vote, marry, form binding contracts, be tried as adults and serve in the military.
2. Deny firearms to people “suspected” of being terrorists without any proof, let alone any consistent criteria, charges or convictions, and with plenty of false positives (remember Ted Kennedy?) Tip the ones who are terrorists off that they’ve made, and leave them free to stalk among us.
3. Strip the right to keep and bear arms, again without due process, from “Social Security beneficiaries … who receive benefits for a mental health disability, and have had a representative payee designated to receive such benefits.” And while you’re at it, “inaccurately stigmatize… those with a mental health disorder as violent.”
4. Prohibit new sales of what the Miller court called “arms … of the kind in common use at the time [and] ordinary military equipment … that … could contribute to the common defense.”
5. Restrict rounds for same.
6. Restrict rate of fire for same.
7. Impose “universal background check” prior restraints about which the National Institute of Justice admitted “Effectiveness depends on the ability to reduce straw purchasing, requiring gun registration…”
8. End all private sales.
9. Presume a gun owner is guilty until proven innocent based on accusations from people with unproven claims and motives.
10. Force taxpayers to foot the bill for agenda “science” by people who admittedly want to see guns “dirty, deadly and banned.”

“Yes, the Second Amendment conveys a right to ‘keep and bear’ firearms,” the Fuddwriters who self-identify as “conservative, progressive and liberal” acknowledge. That’s right before showing everyone their big “but” and dismissing Constitutional fidelity as “Second Amendment radicalism.”

What they’re demanding has nothing to do with conservatism. Here’s what they neglect in not treating RKBA as a right that must be jealously guarded: The “progressives” they align themselves with don’t much like hunting, either, or fishing, and are actively working to restrict and ban “blood sport,” and even hunting for food.

“Your Daddy Kills Animals!” made it clear how leftist groups like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals feels about fishing and “Your Mommy Kills Animals!” intended to traumatize children over any kind of meat. We’re talking about a group that’s founder claims “A Rat Is a Pig Is a Dog Is a Boy.”

Think of PETA as an indicator of where “progressives” are taking us.

Most of us are familiar with Homer’s Odyssey, where, among other ordeals, the Cyclops Polyphemus promised Odysseus he would eat him last. The only way to avoid that was by banding together, exactly the opposite of what the Fuddwriters are doing.

Divided we fall, and they’re doing their part to separate and then push.

By citing their Circle of Chiefs credentials, they have dragged OWAA into it to the point where the current top guy felt it necessary to distance the group.  Even so, what he offers is pretty weak tea.

“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,” Dr. Shuler reminds readers. Fine and good, but those “professional communicators” are using his professional organization’s name and their ties with it to advocate criminalizing a significant segment of the market OWAA members ostensibly serve.  As Shuler won’t take a stand beyond trying to distance himself without actually saying anything, he shouldn’t be surprised if principled gun owners avoid periodicals promoting his members’ affiliation the same way they now avoid Dick’s Sporting Goods.

At least Jim Zumbo apologized.

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About David Codrea:

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating / defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament.

In addition to being a field editor/columnist at GUNS Magazine and associate editor for Oath Keepers, he blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.