We Stand Together

A number of years back I was at a hunting symposium and met an interesting individual.  He was a very prolific hunter.  When he was younger he had traveled all over the world hunting mostly dangerous game.  He was the dude that would be called in when a man eater needed to be stopped.

Now, somewhat advanced in age he had pretty much settled on deer hunting.

He had also settled on a single weapon system: The recurve bow.

When he began hunting as a teenager in Pennsylvania he had used a shotgun.  When he moved to Colorado he transitioned to the the rifle.  After hunting the planet and specializing in dangerous game he settled in the midwest.  Looking for more “sport” he jettisoned the rifle and instead only hunted using a single shot muzzleloader.  Wanting to be handicapped even further he stopped using firearms altogether and began hunting with a modern compound bow.  Eventually even this was too much and he settled on the transitional recurve bow…. yep the same technology that Robbin Hood used.

What was interesting was his take on the good old AR-15.“I am passionate about the AR.“

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“Even for hunting?”

“Sure… If the caliber is sufficient enough to ethically take the animal you are after with a single shot why not?”

“What caliber do you use for hunting with an AR?”

“I don’t know.  I’ve never done it.  Hell…I don’t even have an AR-15.  Don’t like the looks of ‘em much.”

“What?  You just said that you are passionate about the AR platform!.”

“I am.  I am passionate about any weapon system that allows a citizen to exercise his or her rights to keep and bear arms.  AR, Shotgun, Bolt action.  What do I care.  Look, just because I don’t own one does not give me the option of disregarding them.”

“Fair enough.  I’ve met some bowhunters that really couldn’t care less about efforts to ban specific rifles.”

“Yeah… we see that all the time don’t we.  Look son… two things:  Never bet against lazy, and never bet against selfishness.  When it comes to hunting, the anti-hunters have figured this out.  We are divided in this sport both by species of interest as well as weapons we use.  Some people hunt birds, and never shoot big game.  Some are fishermen and can’t understand why anyone would kill a mammal.  Others are only interested in big game because of the challenge of the stalk.  Sure, the big game hunter may claim allegiance to the fisherman…. but will he go out of his way to ensure that the fisherman is allowed to fish?  Will the bird hunter worry about outlawing ammunition that is used to take deer?”

“Well…. they should.”

“Of course the should! They might even claim that they do… but if it is not in their wheelhouse then you need to refer back to the first principal: Never bet against lazy.  They may intuitively know that down the road, these restrictions could imperil their own activities…. but, you know… they got stuff to do.  Grandkids need to be watched, and the lawn needs to be mowed.  Calling congressman, writing letters… who has time for that?”

“And the Anti’s divide and conquer.”

“Yes.  They divide and conquer.  Once they have banned one type of firearm, especially one for cosmetic reasons, why not ban other firearms?  Do you really think that those people care about AR-15?s or Large Capacity Magazines? or Lead free ammo?  No… they want to ban everything.  But they have to divide us first.  Ban one thing at a time, and establish the intellectual justification, then simply begin transferring that to the next ‘thing.’

“So, that is why someone that does not particularly care for the AR is “passionate” about the AR.”

“Yep.  Hey….You ever hunted with a recurve bow?”

“Nope… not really interested either, I am a rifleman… but I can tell you one thing:  I am “passionate” about recurve bow hunting.”

“As you should be.”