These are interesting perspectives. Weapon can associate itself with a different crowd than hunters, such as those who only use firearms for self defense, recreation, military training, or just cause they want to. Weapon can employ images of automatic rifles, tactical knives, and billy clubs. Rifle kind of sounds like your daddy' s old 30/30 Winchester 94, a tool for hunting, as noted above. However, I think that the question is not which word to use, rather who to align yourself with. Hunters should align themselves with firearms owners, of all kinds, because hunting in its very nature calls for the use of firearms (ever try to bowhunt waterfowl?). The preservation of firearms rights is directly correlated with the preservation of hunting, because the same types of groups that are anti-hunting are also anti-gun rights. The firearms owners hunters need to distinguish themselves from are the ones who own firearms illegally, and use them the same way. We need to have a public voice that states that we believe very much in our second amendment freedoms, but that we definitely do not condone, under any circumstances, the use of firearms illegally or irresponsibly. Remember, we have to be responsible and civil in our right to bear arms, but we also have to not give so much ground that the anti-gun crowds start taking and taking, without understanding our culture. We must be, in a cliche phrase, firm yet fair.