Bostodelphia 21 Gun Salute to the Firearms of 2007 #13: Menacing "Black Rifles"

"Black rifles" also called AR and AK style rifles, are rifles resembling or constructed along the same design as military combat rifles, minus the ability to fire fully automatic.

They became the subject of popular discussion after at the time popular hunting and outdoors writer Jim Zumbo denounced them in a column, finding them in conflict with the traditional relationship between hunter and rifle and also just ugly aesthetically. While it seems to Bostodelphia a fair point to suggest that an auto-loading rifle with a more gentle recoil than traditional hunting long rifles may take some of the disciplined and practiced craft out of game hunting, and it's also personally reasonable to question whether the "military" vibe black rifles give off is an image the hunting community really wants to associate itself with, the gun community, both firearm owners and the gun industry, basically went postal on Zumbo's career, as chronicled in this account from the International Herald Tribune.

Really, we had never thought hunters would be so fashion conscious, or emotionally volatile when posed with aesthetic criticism.