Replies

"I'm sorry, but the vast majority of hunting accideents don't just happen. They are usually the fault of either poor firearms handling or poor field safety."

All the more reason to believe, until proven different, that this thing was an accident. Cheney is an accomplished hunter whose never been involved in a mishap before in all his years of hunting. This tells me that he knows the safety rules very well and abides by them, and this is probably one of those times when the accident wasn't the due to any negligence. We definately live in a "blame somebody" mentality today.

There seem to be a large number of either non-hunters or inexperienced hunters on here.

Accidents do happen, but the only way hunting accidents can be avoided is for the hunter to take active personal responsibility for his actions. That means a responsible hunter does not climb into or out of a deer stand with a loaded gun. It also, and most importantly, means a responsible hunter knows what he is shooting at, and he is certain that it is safe to shoot in that direction.

The man who was shot was approaching from behind the Vice President. There was no way the Vice President could have known whether or not someone was approaching from his blind side. Therefore, as a responsible hunter, the Vice President should not have fired when the bird flew into an area that he did not know for certain was clear. In other words, he should not have been shooting behind himself, without having checked that field of fire first.

I would bet the Vice President would agree with that analysis, and I would bet he feels pretty dumb for shooting in a direction he did not know was clear.

Yes, I have been dusted with bird shot. And yes, regrettably, I have also dusted another hunter with bird shot. I know the rationalizations, and have used them myself.

This is not about legal liability, we can leave that to the lawyers who are left to sort that out. This is about not shooting in a direction that you don't know, for an absolute fact, is safe.