Guns don’t kill people, vice presidents kill people

Posted on February 12, 2006 by Gene

Okay, he didn’t kill the man, but still… I know I shouldn’t laugh at this unfortunate accident but really, Dick Cheney and firearms don’t mix.

Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a companion during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, spraying the fellow hunter in the face and chest with shotgun pellets.

Harry Whittington, a millionaire attorney from Austin, was “alert and doing fine” in a Corpus Christi hospital Sunday after he was shot by Cheney on a ranch in south Texas, said Katharine Armstrong, the property’s owner.

He was described as in stable condition by Yvonne Wheeler, spokeswoman for the Christus Spohn Health System in Corpus Christi.

… The shooting was first reported by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. The vice president’s office did not disclose the accident until nearly 24 hours after it happened.

Okay. First: who else would Cheney go shooting with but a fellow millionaire who also didn’t need to hunt to survive? Second, a disclosure “nearly 24 hours” later must be a record for the fastest disclosure ever by Cheney’s office.