Actually a young man in my area was peppered with birdshot a few years ago and the local LE acted like it was no big deal, they did not seem to equate it with the more serious shooting incidents at all. Birdshot hitting a person is usually only very annoying and really painful, not a big deal.
The person I knew didn't think to report it to LE at all, his mother made him go to ER for treatment, they reported it. LE talked to him later by phone for their report since they were notified. BTW the ER in this case just cleaned the wounds real good and sent him right home.
I'd bet a lot of these type of incidents aren't even reported to LE or medically treated at all. I've heard of some non-reports myself.
This should only have been a major deal for the man who was hit and Cheney. The man that was hit, was hurt worse than normally happens, and of course it had to scare the tar out of him. Cheney admits it was his fault, so he feels guilty and terribly bad that he harmed a friend.
The rest of us would not even care if Cheney wasn't involved. When is the last time you saw a news article about someone shot with birdshot before this happened? This is for sure not the only time an incident like this has happened.
INteresting - thanks.