On March 20, a month after Zumbo's column was published, gun control advocate Senator Carl Levin praised Zumbo for "his forthrightness, his honesty and his courage," calling the response to his comments "swift and callous," in a speech that supported the renewal of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban. Zumbo in turn published "An Open Letter to the United States Senate", saying his statements had been misrepresented, and attacking Levin's support of gun control legislation as an attack on the Second Amendment.