Experienced hunters put Cheney at fault in shooting By Joseph Curl
Experienced hunters yesterday said Vice President Dick Cheney alone bears the blame for a weekend mishap in which he accidentally shot a hunting companion in the face and chest with a shotgun.
Every local hunter interviewed by The Washington Times yesterday said the vice president violated hunting's cardinal rule: Never pull the trigger unless you are 100 percent sure of your target. And, they said, he violated Rule No. 2, as well: Never swing on game outside the safe zone of fire.
"I just want the guy to say, 'Hey, I screwed up, I made a mistake,'?" said James Harris, 51, a hunter and taxidermist from Mechanicsville, Md., who said he fears that the accident will make people think hunting is unsafe.
"He apparently was overzealous or too excited about the shot, and he didn't practice safe measures to make sure he didn't shoot his friend. He should have, and he was wrong," Mr. Harris said.
Said hunter Bob Rice, 73, of Golden Beach, Md.: "Ninety-nine percent of the blame falls on the person who discharged that round with his trigger finger, and that's Cheney."
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