A photo of President Barack Obama skeet
shooting at Camp David has been released following a claim last week that he
engages in the activity regularly.
It is the only known photo of Obama with
a gun, and also comes amid a White House-backed push for stronger gun control
regulations in the U.S.
The photo shows Obama targeting clay
pigeons at the presidential retreat last August, which he said he does
"all the time" during stays at the compound.
The comment, in an interview last
Sunday, was a response to a question of whether he had
ever held a firearm. Obama told the New Republic:
"Not the girls, but oftentimes
guests of mine go up there. 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."
Given the current political atmosphere
and polarizing gun control
debate, some questioned whether the claim was an embellishment or
even true at all.
Politicians who use firearms often
advertise that fact to gun owners, but in four years in office and two national
campaigns, Obama has never brought it up.
"If he is a skeet shooter, why have
we not heard of this?" asked Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). "Why has
he not referenced it at any point [during this] gun debate?"
"Why have we not seen photos?"
Asked about the president's interview,
Press Secretary Jay Carney responded "I would refer you simply to his
comments," he said. "I don't know how often."
Carney noted that when Obama travels to
"Camp David, he goes to spend time with his family and friends and relax,
not to produce photographs."
Conspiracy or not, and no matter how
curiously timed the photo's release may be, what can't be refuted is the
President's commitment to reform.
Obama signed several executive orders
strengthening regulations of guns and revealed proposals to ban
assault weapons and high capacity magazines.
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