Politicians and guns: Why it's important that Obama shoots skeet
What is it about politicians and guns?
Once describing himself as a 鈥渓ifelong hunter,鈥� Mitt Romney had to backtrack, acknowledging that 鈥渓ifelong hunter鈥� meant shooting at 鈥渟mall varmints鈥� now and then.
Rick Perry let it be known that he once went mano a mano with a coyote he said was threatening his dog, killing the beast with the handgun he carried while jogging. (Just where did he tuck that .380 Ruger on his morning run through the cactus and tumbleweeds, by the way?)
As a presidential candidate, John Kerry once borrowed a double-barreled shotgun and camo outfit to bag geese and an important photo op. (Wasn鈥檛 it enough that he鈥檇 pursued and killed an enemy soldier armed with a rocket-propelled grenade in Vietnam, where he鈥檇 been awarded a Silver Star, Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts?)
How much do you know about the Second Amendment? A quiz.
Sarah Palin made sure her now-defunct 鈥渞eality鈥� show included the scene of her shooting a caribou, although hunting experts questioned some of the details and wondered why it took five shots to bring down the animal. Ms. Palin dismissed such criticisms, telling a Kansas City crowd, 鈥淚 have caribou blood under my fingernails still."
And then there鈥檚 Dick Cheney, who accidentally (and infamously) winged a friend in the face with shotgun pellets when they were quail hunting on a Texas ranch.
The White House this weekend found it necessary to release a photo of President Obama firing a shotgun.
The President has never claimed to be a hunter or any kind of sport shooter. If he ever applied for membership in the National Rifle Association, NRA executive Wayne LaPierre would be truly gob-smacked.
But in a recent New Republic interview, Obama was asked if he鈥檇 ever fired a gun.
鈥淵es,鈥� he said. 鈥淚n fact, up at Camp David, we do skeet shooting all the time.鈥�
鈥淎ll the time鈥� is open to interpretation, and 鈥渨e鈥� presumably includes guests and perhaps bored Secret Service agents.
But critics were quick to pounce. 鈥淲here are the photos?鈥� they demanded.
"If he is a skeet shooter, why have we not heard of this? Why have we not seen photos?" Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R) of Tennessee聽asked on CNN this week. "I think he should invite me to Camp David, and I'll go skeet shooting with him. And I bet I'll beat him."
Rep. Blackburn probably shouldn鈥檛 keep her appointment book open for that invitation. On the other hand, it might be fun to watch the President and congressional Republicans blasting away at clay pigeons rather than lobbing rhetorical grenades at each other.
Although Palin, Blackburn, and other women in politics are joining men in touting their love of firearms (and women can now be considered for combat positions in the US military), it鈥檚 mainly men 鈥� just as it is with the question of military service, especially those who might have served in Vietnam but didn鈥檛, including Cheney and Romney. (There no doubt are darkly psychological issues here too, but we won鈥檛 go there.)
Obama didn鈥檛 serve either, although he was a school boy during the Vietnam War and never faced the draft.
His aim in showing that he knows his way around guns 鈥� at least the shotgun provided him for skeet shooting at Camp David 鈥� is to let conservatives and liberals alike know that he values and respects sport shooting, including hunting.
It鈥檚 an important point to make if he鈥檚 ever to get new gun safety laws.
