Jim Bequette, the editor of Guns & Ammo magazine, resigned this week after he alienated readers by running a column that supported gun control.
Writer Dick Metcalf's "Backstop" column in the December issue of the national magazine for gun enthusiasts created a firestorm earlier this week, with readers flooding the publication's Facebook page and Twitter feed with criticism.
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"Way too many gun owners still seem to believe that any regulation of the right to keep and bear arms is an infringement [to the Second Amendment]," Metcalf wrote in the piece. "The fact is, all constitutional rights are regulated, always have been, and need to be."
"I will NEVER read your magazine again,"
one Facebook user wrote on Guns & Ammo's page. "I will NEVER buy anything offered in your magazine."
"If Dick Metcalf isn't given the boot, I will give the boot to my subscription," another commented. "Stabbed in the back by one of our own. What a shame."
Metcalf was fired and, on Wednesday, Bequette announced he would also be stepping down. The editor was scheduled to be replaced Jan. 1 anyway, but decided to bow out early in light of the controversy.
"As editor of Guns & Ammo, I owe each and every reader a personal apology. No excuses, no backtracking … I understand what our valued readers want. I understand what you believe in when it comes to gun rights, and I believe the same thing," Bequette wrote in a statement on the magazine's website. "I made a mistake by publishing the column. I thought it would generate a healthy exchange of ideas on gun rights. I miscalculated, pure and simple. I was wrong, and I ask your forgiveness."
Eric R. Poole will replace Bequette as editor.
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