Obsessing over whether people who could not care less think you are an ethical hunter or not makes about as much sense as sunscreen at midnight.
Yes... as a sportsman I do care about people's opinions (concerning me or any other hunter for that matter) when they believe that because I (or anyone else) use a specific tool(s) to hunt with I'm suddenly doing so via "unethical means" because the Government said so. That's basically what your posts are saying.
I'm not obsessing... I'm defending the issue at hand (harvesting ethics), a practice as old as time, that is, hunting game animals with more challenging tools thus teaching yourself, or others if you are mentoring, to be patient, disciplined, and responsible enough to put a humane kill at the top of the list.
Some government entity, based of pure subjective opinions IMO, plucked 1000 ft. lbs. out of the air and deemed it to quasi ethical... why? I completely disagree that some cut off number suddenly makes attempting to take game "ethical". Then a guy like you comes along and spouts the same arbitrary nonsense completely ignorant to just how stupid such standards really are. Instead of using the word UNETHICAL, why not just say CHALLENGING? Why not just say in your opinion you want things stacked better in your favor for a humane kill and that's why you choose to use tools that meet a certain terminal ballistic thresholds?
You think bow hunting is "ethical"? Because as someone who has bow hunted for 45 years I know more game has been wounded and lost to sticks and arrows than small caliber firearms... yet no one calls bow hunting unethical for the most part.
My debate with you, and it's not obsessing, is people like you discount others' hunting skills and discipline that makes them effective and successful hunters even when using more challenging tools. If you don't care... then stop posting your opinions on the matter.
I've killed a lot of game with subs and handguns... I've never lost a single animal nor have I ever had to track one over 50ish yards. What's unethical about that?
Here is a video of me and my grandson stalking a big boar using just the grass, the terrain, and patience, he's the third pic down in my pics above... I used a 10mm handgun. I shot the boar at about 30 yards but my grandson went to cover his ears at the time of the shot... the boar dropped in his tracks... I could have just shot the boar from my truck at 150 yards... what's the challenge in that? What did I teach my grandson that day? How to patiently stalk game or how to be an unethical hunter because the tool I ised?