Analysis: Cheney's little shot not a big deal among mishaps

Of all the places to (finally) find some accuracy from the media on this over-publicized hunting accident...

February 14, 2006
Cleveland Plain Dealer

By D'Arcy Egan

Harry Whittington has to be thanking his lucky stars that Dick Cheney is a crack shot.

As shotguns go, Cheney's little 28-gauge is a pipsqueak. It shoots a shotshell that holds far less powder and lead shot than the standard 12-gauge shotgun most hunters carry into the fields and woods. Only the most accomplished of quail hunters, like Cheney, shoot a slender-barreled 28-gauge.

Cheney may not be Annie Oakley, Ohio's Little Miss Sure Shot, but he has a reputation as a slick shooter who loves bird hunting. President George W. Bush, who once mistakenly killed a killdeer, a protected songbird, while on a dove hunt, has said that Cheney is the top gun of his administration.

The smaller 28-gauge shotshells used by Cheney are much like Humphrey Bogart's cigarettes compared to George Burns' cigars. They contain only about 3/4-ounce of tiny No. 7 1/2 shot, which is so small it takes about 35 pieces to cover a dime. Three pieces equal the size of the BB used in a Daisy Red Ryder air rifle.

A 12-gauge shotshell would be loaded with 1 ounces or more of the same size lead shot.

As hunting accidents go, this one was no big deal.

Click here to read the entire op-ed from the Cleveland Plain Dealer.