Semi-Auto Hunting rifle (Faux) "controversy" continues

"Rambo Rifles for Weekend Hunters":The "Modern Sporting Rifle" is a hot seller. Please, just don't call it an assault weapon
As heavily armed U.S. troops deployed in the Middle East remain in the news, the military-style semiautomatic rifle has become a hot seller in the civilian market back home. Most major manufacturers have launched new models.."This is the one the younger generation wants," says Ruger spokesman Ken Jorgensen. "It's not their dad's gun or their granddad's gun." That's the sales pitch—and a source of controversy.
Even within the ranks of hunters and other gun enthusiasts, some protest the pursuit of deer with a modified form of the basic U.S. military weapon. The touchstone for this debate remains a February 2007 blog post by legendary hunter Jim Zumbo. "Maybe I'm a traditionalist, but I see no place for these weapons among our hunting fraternity," Zumbo wrote on the Outdoor Life Web site. Gun owners erupted. Outdoor Life excised his online comments and parted company with the columnist...
"These rifles are there; they are not going away," Stephen Sanetti, the NSSF's chief executive, told reporters...
The solution, Sanetti says, is to rebrand the weapons as "modern sporting rifles," or MSRs. In an online campaign, his organization points out that MSRs are durable, reliable, and use ammunition similar to that used with more traditional rifles. "It won't be long before people call one of these 'ol' Betsy,'" the narrator of an NSSF video says as he cradles a semiautomatic. Americans spend about $2.5 billion a year on guns; precise figures aren't available on semiauto rifles.
For generations, rifle models first used by soldiers have become profitable sellers in the domestic market. The 1903 bolt-action Springfield adopted by the U.S. Army in World War I begat the wooden-stock rifle carried by generations of deer hunters. The higher-capacity Garand issued to troops in World War II also spawned versions used to hunt big game.
The main difference between the military weapon and its civilian counterpart is that the Pentagon's version has the capacity to fire bursts of bullets with a single pull of the trigger. The cosmetically similar MSR fires only one round with each trigger pull.
Some of the confusion over these rifles stems from the tendency of gun-control advocates to refer to all of them —fully automatic and semiautomatic—as "assault weapons."...Since the election of 2008, gun retailers have helped drive semiauto sales by stirring the fear—so far unrealized—that President Barack Obama would try to ban them...
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Full Story @: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_10/b4169060665633.htm?chan=magazine+channel_what's+next
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This biased piece spins negativity for firearms owners & makers. The "So far unrealized" Obama semiauto ban has only been held back by the efforts of gunowners opposed to it. Obama (& his sycophants) still fully intend to ban guns as soon as he feels he can get away with it, of this there is no doubt...(S9)