Dead-Eye Dick 0

I r a farm boy. I grew up surrounded by guns.

No, my immediate family were not hunters, but many members of the extended family were.

On Thanksgiving, we would host the family for Thanksgiving dinner. Part of the tradition was that my uncle and cousin (ten years older than I) would go squirrel hunting. Later, it was my cousin and his brother-in-law.

I still have the Christmas gift of my 15-year-old dreams–a seven-shot bolt action Mossberg .22 rifle (though it needs a new front sight). And, with a little bit of practice, I could be a pretty mean shot again. I once picked off a crow–the lookout–at 200 yards, when the flock was eating our soybeans.

(Anyone who has ever tried that will tell you that crows are smart. They can tell when you step out the door with a rifle, as opposed to a broomstick.)

I attended NRA gun safety classes in high school (this was when the NRA was primarily a safety organization, rather than a lobbying group).

There is nothing funny about guns. There is nothing funny about shooting anything, even a crow.

Now, city folk, who’ve never handled a gun, may believe that it was somehow Mr. Whittington’s fault that he stepped into Mr. Cheney’s line of fire. But the protocol the current Federal Administration cites–that Mr. Whittington should have announced himself–is just another Bush lie.

There is no such thing as an accidental shooting. Anytime someone or something gets shot, it is either because they were an intended target (no, I do not think that Mr. Cheney intended to shoot Mr. Whittington) or because the shooter failed to use his or her weapon with due care.

It is the responsibility of the shooter to know what he or she is shooting at.

Period.

End of story.

Mr. Cheney shows himself, by this act, to be irresponsible.

Once again.

By this time we have earned the right to ask, “This surprises us how?”