Dear HCN,


As a hunter, I find opinions like those of Ali Macalady nauseating (HCN, 11/6/00). “Hunters for Gun Control?” I wonder if she’s not a “plant,” a leftist radical posing as a hunter. If she’s really a hunter, she should be aware that the gun-grabbers will never be satisfied with banning handguns and semi-automatic rifles, or with gun registration. As soon as they succeed in getting one antigun law passed, they immediately begin demanding even more legislation restricting the rights of gun owners. They won’t be satisfied until virtually all guns are outlawed, and they have admitted as much in candid statements.


They wanted “reasonable gun control” in Great Britain and Australia, but now citizens of those countries are lucky to be able to keep a bolt-action .22 rifle or a single-shot shotgun, and antigunners would like to ban them, too.


Don’t blame guns for the Columbine tragedy. There was plenty of evidence that the two mental cases who committed the crime were in need of serious investigation. Plus they were apparently the victims of bullying, which must be halted in the schools. The cult of sports often almost encourages some obnoxious athletes to feel that they can get away with almost anything. This will stop when this type of person is booted off the team, rather than being placated.


If guns caused crime, states like Montana would have very high rates of violent crime. But instead, it has very low rates; Montana’s 1998 murder rate was just over two per 100,000, compared to the national average of over six per 100,000. And Vermont is the safest state in the nation, according to a recent survey of key crime statistics; Vermont also has a very unrestrictive firearms policy: a citizen may carry a gun for any reason except to commit a crime, with no fees or registration.


Gun owners and hunters don’t need more gun control – they need criminal control.


Howard Jubatum
Missoula, Montana

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This hunter is for freedom

by Howard Jubatum, High Country News
December 18, 2000

<h1>This hunter is for freedom</h1> <p class="byline">by Howard Jubatum, High Country News <br />December 18, 2000</p> <p>Dear HCN,</p> <p>As a hunter, I find<br /> opinions like those of Ali Macalady nauseating <a href="http://country-survey-collabs.info/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=10099">(HCN,<br /> 11/6/00)</a>. “Hunters for Gun Control?” I wonder if she’s<br /> not a “plant,” a leftist radical posing as a hunter. If she’s<br /> really a hunter, she should be aware that the gun-grabbers will<br /> never be satisfied with banning handguns and semi-automatic rifles,<br /> or with gun registration. As soon as they succeed in getting one<br /> antigun law passed, they immediately begin demanding even more<br /> legislation restricting the rights of gun owners. They won’t be<br /> satisfied until virtually all guns are outlawed, and they have<br /> admitted as much in candid statements.</p> <p>They<br /> wanted “reasonable gun control” in Great Britain and Australia, but<br /> now citizens of those countries are lucky to be able to keep a<br /> bolt-action .22 rifle or a single-shot shotgun, and antigunners<br /> would like to ban them, too.</p> <p>Don’t blame guns for<br /> the Columbine tragedy. There was plenty of evidence that the two<br /> mental cases who committed the crime were in need of serious<br /> investigation. Plus they were apparently the victims of bullying,<br /> which must be halted in the schools. The cult of sports often<br /> almost encourages some obnoxious athletes to feel that they can get<br /> away with almost anything. This will stop when this type of person<br /> is booted off the team, rather than being<br /> placated.</p> <p>If guns caused crime, states like<br /> Montana would have very high rates of violent crime. But instead,<br /> it has very low rates; Montana’s 1998 murder rate was just over two<br /> per 100,000, compared to the national average of over six per<br /> 100,000. And Vermont is the safest state in the nation, according<br /> to a recent survey of key crime statistics; Vermont also has a very<br /> unrestrictive firearms policy: a citizen may carry a gun for any<br /> reason except to commit a crime, with no fees or<br /> registration.</p> <p>Gun owners and hunters don’t need<br /> more gun control – they need criminal control.</p> <p><b> Howard Jubatum</b><br />Missoula,<br /> Montana</p> <div class="wp-block-group hcn-print-edition-box"> <p>This article appeared in the <a href="/?p=188227">print edition of the magazine</a> with the headline <span class="hcn-magtitle">This hunter is for freedom</span>.</p> </p></div> <p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/issue-193/this-hunter-is-for-freedom/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info Country News&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/cropped-HCN_Logo-Monogram_White_Sq-2.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;quality=100&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;&lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=106604&amp;amp;ga4=G-0NS3WVPPTN&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/issue-193/this-hunter-is-for-freedom/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/hcn.org/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;</p> Copy to Clipboard

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