DUCK! It’s ‘Deadeye Dick’

The vice president didn't see him?

This is b.s., according to my husband who is a gun expert and used to be an
avid hunter. I got some more insight from him in an update
in a previous post, for you non-hunters. He teaches his boys the rights
and wrongs of guns now and is respected by everyone he knows in Nevada for his
arms expertise. Talk to anyone who hunts and they will tell you his assessment
is right on.

The bottom line is you just don't pull the trigger unless you know who is there,
period. Of course Cheney didn't mean to shoot the guy, but he wasn't practicing
good hunter safety by any stretch of the imagination. The NRA will give him
a pass but that doesn't make it safe. It also doesn't mean you should shoot
with the guy. He's obviously dangerous with a gun. To quote from our previous
conversation…

There are reports that Cheney once killed a protected bird. My husband quipped, “If you're blind you shouldn't be hunting.” As regular readers know, we're gun owners, but my husband is a gun expert. He's working today, but we just discussed the Cheney Elmer Fud shooting fiasco. He went off, also looking forward to hearing other details. He also added that he'd heard the man was seriously wounded, as has been reported, because this incident happened yesterday. According to my husband, if something this serious goes down you stand up and take the heat for your mistake. Let's just say that my husband was incredulous over Cheney shooting another hunter, because if you break the rules when you're hunting in a group someone gets hurt. Any hunter knows this: it's a rule to point up, not at other hunters. The killing zone for a shotgun, without knowing the barrel length, is roughly 30 yards. So there is no way Cheney could not have seen the other hunter IF he'd been paying attention. My husband's parting shot was this: “If Cheney was shooting at a bird and he loses sight of it because a hunter was standing between him and the bird, you have to have your head up your ass to pull the trigger.”

The Chicago Tribune also makes a good point. Why did we just hear about this
just today? After all, it
happened yesterday.

Oh, as for Armstrong's it can happen to anyone defense, sure it can happen,
but only when you're hunting with people who have their head up their ass, as
my husband said. Basically, it's unacceptable. When you're in group of hunters
you simply don't shoot low.

Here's Armstrong's
account, which made my husband laugh out loud.

Armstrong said she was watching from a car while Cheney, Whittington and another hunter got out of the vehicle to shoot at a covey of quail. Whittington shot a bird and went to retrieve it in the tall grass, while Cheney and the third hunter walked to another spot and discovered a second covey. Whittington “came up from behind the vice president and the other hunter and didn't signal them or indicate to them or announce himself,” Armstrong said. “The vice president didn't see him,” she continued. “The covey flushed and the vice president picked out a bird and was following it and shot. And by God, Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good.” … Armstrong, owner of the Armstrong Ranch where the accident occurred, said Whittington was bleeding after he was shot and Cheney was very apologetic. “It broke the skin,” she said of the shotgun pellets. “It knocked him silly. But he was fine. He was talking. His eyes were open. It didn't get in his eyes or anything like that. “Fortunately, the vice president has got a lot of medical people around him and so they were right there and probably more cautious than we would have been,” she said. “The vice president has got an ambulance on call, so the ambulance came.” … “This is something that happens from time to time. You know, I've been peppered pretty well myself,” said Armstrong. 'Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good'

NOTE: I stole “Dead-eye Dick” from someone a little earlier today, but I simply can't remember where I saw it, sorry. I heard it before I saw this, by the way. …now I remember, OF COURSE, IT'S VONNEGUT! …and it's “Deadeye Dick.”

UPDATE: As my husband says below above, if you shoot someone, you stand up and take responsibility. It's the way hunters and real men (and women) behave.