No Excuse, No Sympathy

Vice President Dick Cheney shot his longtime friend Harry Wittington last week during a hunting trip. There has been a lot of discussion in the media and in various blogs about who is at fault, why it happened, how it could have been avoided, and what if any penalties should be levied against Mr. Cheney. As you would expect opinions vary from one extreme to the other on every regard. Some people feel that it’s Mr. Wittington’s fault for not announcing his presence. Some feel that the Vice President should have known where everyone is and still others are of the opinion that no one is at fault and it’s just a case of “S**t happens”. I’ve heard arguments that the V.P. should be arrested and charged with some crime or another and I’ve even heard it said that Mr. Cheney was actually trying to shoot Wittington, although that hardly seems credible. All of these arguments contain some level of logic, but they are all essentially incomplete or wrong.

Vice President Dick Cheney is completely at fault. One of the fundamental rules of firearm safety is to know what you’re shooting at and where you are shooting. By all accounts the V.P. turned, fired, and then saw that his friend was in his line of fire. When you are hunting with a group of people, you should never fire anywhere but towards your front and you should always know where all of the members of your hunting party are. There is no excuse for the shooting, Cheney is wrong. Additionally, this is not just a case of incidental pellet spray at long distance. The Vice President was using a 28-gauge shotgun, which is a very small, and lightweight weapon that is essentially only effective at killing small birds and rodents. Mr. Cheney shot his friend at close range.

That’s not the entire story though and don’t start feeling sorry for Harry Wittington. Mr. Wittington got what he deserved and he is completely at fault as well. Mr. Wittington also violated basic firearm safety rules by putting himself into another person’s line of fire. He left the hunting group of 3 people (and no doubt a large contingent of secret service agents and medical personnel) to apparently retrieve some quail that he had already shot. After retrieving his birds he should have returned to the spot where he left the group and then followed behind the party in order to catch up. Instead he tried to save time and cut cross-country. Since quail are not going to flush after a hunting party has already passed them by, it’s fairly evident that Mr. Wittington must have been at least even with the lead shooter in the party (Mr. Cheney) if not ahead of him. By trying to save time to catch up with his party, Harry Wittington got himself shot. He made a stupid mistake and he paid for it.

Lost in all the hoopla is that none of those involved actually had the required state permits to even be out there shooting quail. By definition, these people were poaching. In most states failure to be properly licensed will result in heavy fines and in some cases seizure of firearms and hunting equipment. I have not heard of any fines or firearm seizures in this case and that can only mean one of two things. Either hunting laws aren’t enforced in Texas, or the people breaking the law are receiving preferential treatment. To me, this seems to be the worst and most embarrassing part of the whole story. If any fines or penalties should be assessed, this is what they should be for.

Ultimately, this is a story of mistakes, accidents, and errors in judgment. Everyone involve shares the blame and anyone involved could have prevented the accident. Both Mr. Cheney and Mr. Wittington can accept the blame for this accident because it was in each ones power to prevent it. The moral of the story is that you should always follow all of the rules of firearm safety at all times.

Date Added: 19-02-2006