(I should have added to the headline above thet the MsM went NUTS!)
When I heard the story on the radio, and later read it in the local newspaper, I laughed.
Now, I know some of you will interpret my laughter as insensitivity and ignorance about the dangers of guns.
You would be wrong.
For most of my life I was a hunter. Birds, deer, small game, big game, just about anything it was legal to hunt. I have, in my wallet, a lifetime sportsman hunting and fishing license from my state.
I was raised around guns and from the age of six, I was a shooter. Not a very good one, granted, but I knew how to handle a weapon for maximum safety.
Hunters who read this will understand exactly what I am saying.
“What goes up… must come down”. That’s the law. It is really brought home to dove hunters who have surrounded a cornfield and begin firing upwards at doves in flight. That birdshot they have just fired into the air must come down. And it does. Often those red-hot pellets fall upon fellow hunters on the opposite side of the field. If a hot shot happens to drop down your collar, as happened to me once… it is an experience you will never forget. It’s like having an angry wasp inside your shirt. Being peppered with birdshot is an experience common among bird hunters.
In the Vice-President’s case, if the reports in the press come anywhere near the truth, a cardinal rule of hunting was violated. It is incumbent upon every hunter to keep his fellow hunters apprized as to his whereabouts at all times. And, a safety conscious hunter never goes down range. Ever. To those of you who are not hunters… down range is in the direction hunters have been firing, are firing, or might fire, at any time. If one wishes to expose himself, to the fire of other hunters, that is a sure fire way to do it.
From the reports in the press it sounds as if that is what happened.
It was, after all, birdshot, one of the smallest pellets used in hunting. That is not to say a blast from a shotgun, loaded with birdshot, will not be fatal. It certainly can be. The proximity of the person receiving the blast has everything to do with whether it is a killing shot, or not.
So, take a deep breath and relax. I don’t believe this is an impeachable offense!
And finally, the burning question hunters want to know and I didn't hear the MSM ask....did the Vice-President get the bird?
Longstreet
I'm no hunter, but both of my grandfathers, several uncles and a few cousins are hunters. And from what I understand from them, it's always on the shoulders of anyone with a loaded gun to keep a mental image of his party members and to make sure his field of fire is clear before he shoots. No game is worth compromising safety.
ReplyDeleteRemember, Cheney shot the poor guy directly, the birdshot didn't fall on him from above, as you imply...
No such implication was intended , I assure you. As a hunter, I will not hunt with anyone who does not observe the rules of shooting/hunting safety. I was raised to believe that it is the duty of EVERYONE in the hunting party to not do DUMB things! This gentleman had rejoined the hunting party unannounced and was not known to even be on the field at the time of the shooting. Plus, he was 90 feet away and he was hit by birdshot.
ReplyDeleteLook, this is a laugher! This is the kind of injury which happens very frequently and is most often laughed off with a round of handshskes and every one gets on about their business.
My granfather carried a load of buckshot in his upper left shoulder and left arm, plus a 38 caliber bullet resting atop his left shoulder blade until the day he died, of natural causes, at the age of 96!
At least one of the gunshot injuries was the result of a stand-up gun fight in the middle of the street. Grandapa dispatched his adversary with a couple of rounds to the chest and stomach. Then he went back to plowing the field he had been plowing when called away to the gunfight. He continued to plow until he collapsed from loss of blood. The doc was unable to extract the bullet and continued to probe until grandpa had enough and cussed the doc out, got up and left the doc's office under his own power. Obviously, he lived.