Armstrong is Full of It

“This all happened pretty quickly,” Ms. Armstrong
said in a telephone interview from her ranch. Mr. Whittington, she said, “did
not announce — which would be protocol — 'Hey, it's me, I'm coming
up,' ” she said.

“He didn't do what he was supposed to do,”
she added, referring to Mr. Whittington. “So when a bird flushed and
the vice president swung in to shoot it, Harry was where the bird was.”

Mr. Whittington was “sprayed — peppered,
is what we call it — on his right side, on part of his face, neck, shoulder
and rib cage,” she said, noting that she, too, had been sprayed on her
leg in a hunting accident.

“A shotgun sprays a bunch of little bitty pellets;
it's not a bullet involved,” Ms. Armstrong said. She said she believed
that Mr. Cheney was shooting a 28-gauge shotgun and added
that guests typically bring their own firearms.

Mr. Whittington was about 30 yards from the vice president
when the shooting occurred, Ms. Armstrong said. Altogether, there were five
people in the group. Ms. Armstrong declined to identify the other hunters.

Cheney
Shoots Fellow Hunter in Mishap on a Texas Ranch
(emphasis added)

Protocol? See my husband
laughing his ass off right here. I eventually joined in. It's clear that Armstrong
doesn't know her ass from a hole in the ground.

“He's coming up?”
HEY, I'M NOT A BIRD. I'M A PERSON!!! Is she kidding?

When you've got a gun and there are other hunters around you check
before shooting, period.

What's wrong with this woman? Couldn't she at least call the NRA
for help?

As for “peppered,”
excuse my frankness, but that's bullshit. Whittington was SHOT, as in holy crap
I'm going down, call the paramedics!

According to my husband, Armstrong is not only hilarious (see
“protocol” comment above), but an idiot. A “28 gauge” is
too small and it's very unlikely Cheney used anything other than a 12 gauge
shotgun. In fact, 28 gauge shotguns are rare. Close to 95% of all shotguns used
to hunt birds are 12 gauge. To put that in perspective, the next smaller caliber
shotgun used mostly by young hunters is a 20 gauge. Down from that is the small,
28 gauge. By the way, good luck finding one.

The big question in all this is will the NRA have the balls to
call Cheney on this bad hunter safety? According to my husband, Cheney's actions
are absolutely unconscionable. But will the NRA do the right thing? Hunter safety
is the NRA's stock and trade. This is when they should stand up and speak out.

I've got to tell you, I'm having fun here at Cheney's expense,
but this is deadly serious and I understand Cheney made a near fatal error.
That said, anyone arrested for manslaughter is arrested under the same type
of scenario. Sure, Cheney didn't mean to do it, so it would never be attempted
murder, but if I ran over someone and killed them, the cops don't care. I still
killed somebody, intent or not, which is called manslaughter. Get it?

You may not like this line, but it's never been truer. Guns don't
kill people, Republicans do.

UPDATE: Christy
has a great post recalling her childhood and using a 28 gauge when she was young.
I also want to add that if the vice president was using a 28 gauge shotgun like
Armstrong claims, it's unusual to say the least. If you had a group of grown
men around getting ready to go hunt and handed any one of them a 28 gauge they'd
likely laugh at you. But hey, Cheney has a bad ticker and isn't in the greatest
of health so he just might be the exception to the rule. Hell, I've shot a 28
gauge and it sure doesn't kick much, but for a grown man to use a skeet gun
for hunting is an oddity. However, shooting your hunting partner is too. I also agree with Christy that something just doesn't
feel right about this at all. We'll have to see if and when we get more details.