This sounds like a typical follow-too-far/up too far incident. The VP had a bead on a bird, the bird swerves to one side, VP follows and crosses the path of the victim. A good shooter is smoothly continuing his swing while he pulls the trigger - if somebody's where they're not supposed to be it may be too late to stop. You can go, "Oh (*&(*&%!" and yank your barrel up, but half the time the shot's already out of the muzzle and gone. Which is why it's very important not to move out of line.
Could be a little of the Veep's fault, sounds more like a little of the victim's fault . . . but the chances are it was largely "just an accident". And the fact that the VP was involved has nothing to do with moral or legal liability - because this is not an unusual occurrence. (And the idea that lawyers are going to have a field day on this is unlikely -- there's something called "assumption of the risk" and all bird hunters know that catching a pellet is part of the risk, it can happen with no negligence on ANYbody's part.)
Fortunately it was probably No. 7 1/2 or 8 shot . . . a little late in the season for No. 9 . . . which unless you're unlucky enough to get a pellet in the eye is not going to do you a great deal of harm.
It is always the shooters responsibility to know what is around him. If you don't know, you don't shoot. I like Cheney, but he screwed up. I am glad the other person was not badly injured, but this isn't his fault and isn't a no-nevermind.
1997 Hunting Accident Summary
Hunting Safe and Getting Safer
From the IHEA web site:
The International Hunter Education Association (IHEA) is the international organization comprised of officials having responsibility for administering the various state and provincial hunter education programs in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
The mission of the IHEA is to provide leadership in developing safe, responsible, knowledgeable and involved hunters. The IHEA is recognized as the primary source of information on hunter education and hunting accident statistics.
As the table below indicates, the hunting accident rate is lower than most outdoor activities. Obviously, there is a risk of injury in every outdoor activity.
When compared to hunting however, some activities are much more hazardous than most people realize. For example, look at the following list of outdoor activities and compare the number of accidents for these activities with those for hunting.(These statistics were provided by the National Safety Council, Statistics Unit in Chicago for 1995 for the U.S.)
Outdoor Activity Deaths
Boating 836
Hang Gliding 28
Sky Diving 28
Football 4
Personal Watercraft 79
Hunting 96
Scuba Diving 97
Swimming 1,700
An important question to be answered is "How does one prevent becoming a victim of a hunting accident?". Since the most common type of hunting accident involves the victim not being seen by the shooter, the best course of action is to be seen by wearing blaze orange clothing. During the past ten years the bulk of the accidents are vision related accidents.
Vision related accidents are caused by the following factors:
The victim moved into the shooter's line of fire.
The victim was covered by the shooter who was swinging on game.
The victim was out of sight of the shooter.
The victim was mistaken for game.