OMG! A black guy with a gun in the White House!

[proud2BlibKansan]

Two days before President Barack Obama's first trip outside Washington to promote his gun-control proposals, the White House tried to settle a brewing mystery when it released a photo to back his claim to be a skeet shooter.

Obama had set inquiring minds spinning when, in an interview with The New Republic magazine, he answered "yes" when asked if he had ever fired a gun. The admission came as a surprise to many.

"Yes, in fact, up at Camp David, we do skeet shooting all the time," Obama said in the interview released last weekend, referring to the official presidential retreat in rural Maryland, which he last visited in October while campaigning for re-election. Asked whether the entire family participates, the president said: "Not the girls, but oftentimes guests of mine go up there."

Few could recall Obama ever talking about firing a gun or going skeet shooting "all the time."

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/02/02/4045236/white-house-releases-photo-of.html#storylink=cpy

[NYC_SKP]

1. Obama, with a gun??? NEVER!!!

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. Wingnuts claiming it's a photoshop

Check out the comments on the link I posted.

So predictable.

[MidwestTransplant]

30. No doubt it was done by the same guy that did his birth certificate

[freshwest]

35. And look at that stance and those sinews in his arms! Woot! Skeet beware, LOL!

[X_Digger]

56. Actually, his positioning is a bit off..

You sink the stock into your shoulder, even if it means you have to duck your head down a bit more.

Having 1/3 of the buttstock unsupported means his collarbone/shoulder is taking a beating. That's one of the common mistakes I see when teaching a person to shoot. Usually only takes one time, hehe.

I bet he had an awfully sore shoulder the next day.

[freshwest]

57. Sad that all you saw there was something to criticize. That's your choice, he looks fine to me.

Each to their own interpretation. Here's a funny one:

[X_Digger]

58. Not at all! I'd be happy to give him pointers.

Heck, that could have been his first shot (hence being photo-worthy). If so, I bet he already figured it out.

[CincyDem]

2. Who's that guy acting like Wesley Snipes at the WH ? n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

46. LOL

[nick of time]

3. OMG, call the Secret Service right now.

Oh, wait.

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. LOL

[treestar]

9. rofl

[nick of time]

10. Thank you, thank you.

I'll be here all week.

[freshwest]

36. Next, this it'll be suggested as an economy measure by the batshit crazies in the House...

[nick of time]

38. Nothing those idiots in the House surprises me anymore,

disgusts yes, surprise, no.

[freshwest]

39. The people that voted them in scare me. I never saw the film, but they're busy creating our future:

..The film tells the story of two ordinary people who take part in a top-secret military hibernation experiment, only to awaken 500 years in the future in a dystopian society full of extremely dumb people.

Advertising, commercialism, and cultural anti-intellectualism have run rampant and dysgenic pressure has resulted in a uniformly stupid society devoid of intellectual curiosity, social responsibility, and coherent notions of justice and human rights.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiocracy

That's where we're going at this rate... Even though I believe the tripe they are feeding their followers - anti-science religion with a division of classes by sex and race - is to make them fit at the lower ends of society.

We will always have a competing class that will do well - and will manage the whole with a technocracy at a distance. Their children will learn the hard sciences, do the research and development, reap the financial rewards of such, and be completely cut off from the troglodytes the GOP appeals to now and will keep held down forever.

I envision a mix of Brave New World and 1984. No social mobility with two entrenched groups, but with very little freedom of thinking for either.

[nick of time]

41. Never underestimate the fanaticism of the RW,

They scare the hell out of me and they're well armed and seem willing to use those weapons against fellow citizens just because we happen to believe opposite of what they believe.

[freshwest]

43. I edited my reply. I think they're being conned.

[Ian Iam]

4. Shame he wasn't shooting at Orly Taitz

Or Donald Trump.

[bluestate10]

15. Their faces are painted on the clay pigeons. Why do you think the President is focusing

so much on the shot?

[graywarrior]

5. That's kinda hot.

[HappyMe]

6. CALL....SOMEBODY..RIGHT FUCKING NOW1!!1

[CTyankee]

18. You gave me my big belly laugh of the day!

Thank you! I was laughing so hard my hubby heard me from the next room and wanted to know what was so damn funny...

[HappyMe]

20. Really?

That's cool. Glad to be of service.

[CTyankee]

22. I don't usually laugh that loud but that was just too funny...

It wasn't something I could really explain to him. He wouldn't understand since he thinks I am kinda crazy for being on DU as much as I am. You have to admit it's a REALLY inside joke...

[HappyMe]

23. Yeah it is, I guess.

Still funny though.

[CTyankee]

27. That's because we have a shared context. Hubby doesn't get the gestalt of DU.

He's a good liberal and staunch Progressive. He just thinks DU is addictive to me.

So it's better if I don't try to "explain" it to him...he'd just give me that slightly pained look he gets when I tell him all the stuff I get from DU. It's OK, he fills me in on all our local inside political stuff, so it works out pretty well...

[HappyMe]

31. If it takes too damn

long to explain the joke, best not to even bother. My husband almost nodded off one evening when I tried to explain stuff here. He does ask once in awhile, "Any brawls there lately?" or "What's the latest with the Undergrounders?"

I learned to give the quick synopsis.

[CTyankee]

33. some things just tickle me more than others...I always laugh when I see the original of that

quote. It seems to aptly describe the absurd. Your recontextualization (izzat a word?) of the original takes it another step...

[Go Vols]

11. +1

[War Horse]

12. Oh noes. This calls for an all out weapons ban!

(Channeling right wing nut jobs)

[Crepuscular]

13. Waiting

Waiting for the obligatory post about a "delicate flower" fondling his precious.

[Go Vols]

14. lol

think it may be a long wait.

[sylvi]

26. Or the dimestore Freudians

to chime in with something about penis size.

[rgbecker]

16. Context, context, context.

Says he once fired a gun. Never says he fires one a lot or all the time. Says his guests do. Never says he "Shoots skeet all the time".

FF: Have you ever fired a gun?

Yes, in fact, up at Camp David, we do skeet shooting all the time.

FF: The whole family?

Not the girls, but oftentimes guests of mine go up there. And I have a profound respect for the traditions of hunting that trace back in this country for generations. And I think those who dismiss that out of hand make a big mistake.

Part of being able to move this forward is understanding the reality of guns in urban areas are very different from the realities of guns in rural areas. And if you grew up and your dad gave you a hunting rifle when you were ten, and you went out and spent the day with him and your uncles, and that became part of your family's traditions, you can see why you'd be pretty protective of that.

So it's trying to bridge those gaps that I think is going to be part of the biggest task over the next several months. And that means that advocates of gun control have to do a little more listening than they do sometimes.


Obama's Problem: He's too reasonable for most of America.

[CTyankee]

19. why is smoke coming from the top of the gun as well as the barrel?

[X_Digger]

25. It's a ported barrel, keeps the gun from popping up (important for skeet & hunting)

By letting some of the expanding gases produced by the shot escape from a port in the top, you get a 'push' down on the barrel. (Newton's third law).

[CTyankee]

29. Oh, it's that simple? well...

[MicaelS]

40. Yes the barrel is ported...

Here's a link to a website for a company that does porting with some close up pics.

http://www.magnaport.com/sgun.html

[CTyankee]

42. It makes eminent good sense! I don't know why I didn't assume the obvious...

it shows that you can't overthink these things...

[X_Digger]

45. Yup, it serves the same purpose as muzzle compensators on guns like the AR-15

http://www.brownells.com/rifle-parts/barrel-parts/compensators/f2-compensator-sku100003655-26732-51836.aspx

It's one of those 'scary' features in the new 'assault weapons ban' bill.

When you understand what a muzzle compensator (or porting on other guns) does, it seems silly to make that one of the criteria for a 'ban'.

[CTyankee]

48. The same that is on the shotgun in the Obama pic?

[X_Digger]

51. No, different means, but same purpose.

You 'port' a barrel to compensate for 'muzzle flip'- the tendency of guns to rise when fired due to their center of gravity. Alternately, you can put a 'compensator' on the end of the barrel if it's threaded to accept one.

Reducing muzzle flip is not a nefarious purpose, so it really made gun owners roll their eyes when having a threaded barrel that can accept a compensator was counted as one of the 'features' of an 'assault weapon' in the 1994 (and now 2013) legislation.

[CTyankee]

52. so the gun doesn't "hit you in the face" after you shoot it? Right? Or, hit you in the shoulder?

Is that right? So it keeps you from interrupting what you are doing, right?

[X_Digger]

53. Instead of jumping up 5-6", it only pops up 1-2".

For skeet / trap shooters, they regularly shoot rapidly at 2-3 clays. Anything that lets them be more accurate is good. It does reduce the felt recoil a bit (the punch in the shoulder), but only by about 15-20%.

For bird hunters, it does help with shooting multiple birds, and means fewer misses, so less steel shot in the environment.

[NutmegYankee]

54. It reduces the tendency of the gun to rise.

The expanding gases from the barrel tend to cause the gun aim to climb, such that the next shot will go higher. Muzzle braking or compensating tries to reduce that climb and in the process lessen the recoil (kick). The most common reason for missing the target is "anticipation of the kick" where people flinch downward to brace for the kick.

[CTyankee]

55. yeah, yeah, I get that, easy...I didn't realize how simple this is...

OK. great...got it...

[CTyankee]

62. does it make the shooter's aim less accurate and/or make it more dangerous ((or

uncomfortable) for the shooter? If either or both it could serve as a deterrent...

Does a "compensator" do anything else?

[X_Digger]

63. Doesn't detract from aim, nor make the gun more dangerous, no.

It does make shooting slightly more comfortable for the shooter (reducing the recoil a bit) depending on model and gun caliber.

[FirstLight]

24. your last line... +1000

yes, most people would rather take the quick byte and not pay attention to the whole paragraph. Obama's intelligence actually does his a disservice...especially when he's dealing with knuckle draggers.

[freshwest]

37. +1... Comes from watching opinion shows instead of factual reporting. No facts, just hot air.

[kudzu22]

17. See that, Dick? I didn't even shoot my lawyer in the face.

Amateur.

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. Oh my...next you will see other minorities become uppity

And such....

Fainting!!!! Where has my country gone to?

for the inevitable but, but...

[MoonRiver]

28. What's scarier,

a black guy with a gun, or a black guy trying to take away your gun? I'm so confused!

[flamingdem]

32. black panther sympathies no doubt!

[Kalidurga]

34. That is clearly not photoshopped.

Definitely a body double.

[wishlist]

44. Has Jamie Foxx given him any pointers from Django Unchained? nt

[DeschutesRiver]

47. So Obama is a gun nut, Delicate Flower, Coward, Small Penis man, who strokes his "precious"?

Countless posts unequivocally say that is the case when responding to DU democrats who have guns. One post suggesting killing people who shoot weapons, others want people who own or fire weapons shipped to another country.

So now that we know he shoots regularly, is Obama a "coward" who needs to leave America...wait, that was what teabaggers called him and told him to do, albeit for a different reason.

Anyway, he looks competent and that is quite a nice shot of him skeet shooting. Obama looks like he has been doing this for some time, unlike that bagger loser Palin, who couldn't quit bragging about her gun abilities, but had to have her daddy help her kill something because she didn't know how to hold or fire a simple rifle. Palin's whole life story was photo-shopped because she is the definition of all hat, no cattle.

[Skittles]

49. he bowls regularly too

do you believe that?

I can prove it!

[DeschutesRiver]

50. !!! No! You take that back, that is NOT true!

But if he does really shoot AND bowl, then before we pass final judgment on his character as a man, we'd need to also know:

Does he barbeque with gas or with charcoal?

Do you know the answer? NO PHOTO SHOPPING.

[tavernier]

59. I guess I didn't realize he is a southpaw.

Don't people normally pull the trigger with their dominant (hand) finger?

[X_Digger]

60. Yup, he's a lefty..

[NutmegYankee]

61. On his Inauguration Day in 2009

He did that ceremonial signing of inauguration orders and he commented something like "I'm a lefty, get used to it."