Last Thoughts On Over-reaction Of Cheney Hunting Accident

• Mr. Cheney should have personally come forward with information sooner.

• Given the performance of the media following the accident, the decision to give the story to a competent local newspaper that could be relied upon to report the story accurately is confirmed as a sound decision.

• Although Mr. Cheney took responsibility for the accident, Mr. Whittington shares the responsibility. The mishap occurred because of carelessness on Mr. Whittington's part, and a case of a hunter concentrating on his target—in this case a bird as it was flushed from cover and started to fly off.

• Mr. Whittington’s injury is more severe than I originally understood, but apparently still not truly serious. The ammunition used in quail hunting consists of small pellets that spray over a wide area at low velocity and lose momentum fairly quickly.

• "There are about 700 nonfatal hunting accidents each year in the United States and Canada," said Jim Wentz, a spokesman for the International Hunter Education Association. "In addition, there are about 75 fatal hunting accidents each year. That's out of the 15.7 million people who hunt."


• Quail hunting accounts for about 26 accidents yearly, Wentz said. "In areas where you have bird hunting and groups of hunters together, accidents are more prevalent than in areas where it is primarily deer hunting or big game hunting, and people aren't shooting at flying targets," he said.

• The most common causes of hunting accidents, according to Wentz, include: failing to correctly identify a target; careless handling of the firearm; the victim being out of the shooter's line of sight; the victim moving into the line of fire; the shooter stumbling and falling; and failing to check beyond the target.


• So long as Mr. Whittington’s injuries are not more serious than they now seem, this incident has had more press than it deserves, and it should disappear from the news forthwith.

• There is no reason for Mr. Cheney to entertain any thought of resigning.

• The mainstream media needs to get a grip and move on to truly important issues. I recognize that its collective feelings have been mortally wounded by Mr. Cheney’s “snubbing” them, but they are all big boys and girls, and they will just have to accept that they are not as important as they believe they are.