Gee, thanks for not calling for bans because you're slightly concerned about the appearance of the guns that some people opt to hunt with. I'm slightly concerned about the lengths we go to, in order not to offend those who don't approve of what we do. And, I'm slightly concerned about those pistols that people keep around the house and on their person (referencing your call sign), but not concered enough yet to support a ban....
Gimme a break, mate. I wish people wouldn't hunt with AK-47s because it looks bad to the general public and -- like it or not -- this
is a PR game. That doesn't mean I want to ban them, regulate them, or otherwise infringe upon the rights of Americans to own and use them for legal purposes. It also doesn't mean I'm an enemy of the Constitution, a communist, a Nazi, or a Generally Unsavory Guy.
See the pattern there? If we start banning things that people are concerned about, and worry about PR versus safeguarding Constitutional rights, we're gonna head in a downward spiral that will only get worse. Acting in deference to people who would deny us Constitutional rights is NO way to go about things. Don't be smug about toting an AR-15 into the field, but don't be shy about it, either. It's a rifle, functioning like many other rifles.
Apart from your mention of "banning" -- trying to slip one in under the radar, hmm?
-- I will again point out that we
are involved in a PR game whether we like it or not. I imagine we've all winced at media images of some drooling moron in camo talking about the communists trying to take away our guns, or the headline about the dimwit who accidentally shoots five babies while cleaning his old thutty-thutty.
And, like it or not, the image of a guy in the woods with a "terrorist" rifle -- and yes, that is exactly what an awful lot of Americans think of the AK-47 -- doesn't mesh with the clean and wholesome image we want associated with hunting. It sucks, it's not fair, and a certain kind of gunnie is going to react strongly to anyone who phrases the situation in such words, but that's the modern reality.
So, what's the solution? Well, we could try to educate the public while at the same time doing everything we can to maintain good PR.
Or we can simply "Zumbo" any gunnie who dares step out of line.