A Friendly Bit of Advice for President Obama
We are all aware of the Gun Control Debate that is currently taking place a cross the nation. The problem is that many of the gun control advocates lack creditablity as many dare I say a majority are completely ignorant to the fire arms themselves. They don’t shoot, so they have no clue about how firearms work. President Obama, to prove that he is not one of the uneducated few, that he is just as much a sportsmen as all the gun owners of this nation, has released a photo of him shooting skeet.
Now all you radical progressives, and blind Obamalogs out there, I don’t think that this is photo shopped. I am writing this because I want to help President Obama out with his technique. You see I help teach a program run by a conservation club and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources that educates kids on safe use and handling of a fire arm, as well as safe and ethical hunting practices. I myself took the program as a young man, and even took first place in the shot gun competition my fourth year. I help teach at the shot gun range. It is a four year program and I get to help introduce these kids, starting at age 10 or so, and watch as they mature in to young men and exclent shots. So I have some experince with helping people perfect their form.
To begin, for those of you who don’t know, there are three types of sporting clays. There is Trap Shooting, Skeet Shooting, and sporting clays. These sports are basically the same, you use a shotgun to shoot clay disks that fly through the air when you shout pull. However there are some key differences in the sports. Mainly in the position of where the thrower is.
Trap: In trap the clay pigions are thrown from what is known as the trap house, it is located out in front of where you are shooting. The pigions are thrown up and away from you. They travel either right, left, or straight out from the trap house.
Skeet: In Skeet the clay pigions are thrown from towers on either side of the shooter. These birds are usually thrown higher than they are in trap, and tend to feel as though they are moving faster. This is mainly due to the fact that they cut a crossed the shooters feild of vision. Either going left or right.
Sporting Clays: Sporting clays is a combination of Trap and Skeet, it is designed to be more like an authentic hunting experince. The pigions are thrown from a position next to the shooter. This shooting experince brings in another aspect, and that is the clay rabbit. These are like pigions but they bounce along the ground, as opposed to flying through the air.
So the White House released this photo, of President Obama skeet shooting and dared the people of the world to claim it was photo shopped. Well I see no reason to believe that it was photo shopped, but I am no expert in photo analysis. I am however pretty good with a shot gun. So the point of this post is for me to offer up some pointers for the President Obama, so that he can help improve his game.
To begin, President Obama has very good tastes. He choose an excellent fire arm to go out and enjoy a day of skeet shooting. In skeet a good over under firearm is the choice of most shooters. Presidnet Obama chose a Browning Citori Supreme Super Grad Sport. It has a ported barrel to reduce mussle climb, so you can get off the second shot quicker and more accuratly. He pretty much has the best skeet shotgun in the United States, except for an Ithica. So good mark on the gun.
Many shooters are afraid of the shot gun, they hear stories of how hard they kick and they are afraid of getting knocked out by it. President Obama is clearly not afraid of the firearm. He has his head right on the stock, and that gun held tight up against his sholder. So a good mark for confidence.
Now on to the stance. President Obama is sitting in the back seat. What I mean by that is that he is leaning back. I am aware that he just fire the shotgun, hence why you can see the wad coming out of the end of the barrel. However, if he had a proper stance to begin with, he would not be pushed as far back as he is in this picture. When shooting a shotgun, you lean forward, putting your weight on the front foot. This helps balance you, and helps your body to absorb the recoil, without falling backwards. So President Obama, you need to lean into your shots more. You’ll find it helps you get off your second shot much quicker.
Now on to the position of the shotgun. I was confused when I first saw this picture, it looked like President Obama was shooting a rifle. The shotgun was pointed pretty much level with the ground. For shooting trap, this postion would be effective, the trap house is farther away from the shooter, so you are not required to point the shotgun as high. Skeet requires you to point the shotgun much higher. So President Obama please point your barrel up, you’ll find you hit more birds when you poin the gun towards where the birds actually are.
I am confused by this photo, either President Obama is not a very skilled skeet shooter (they didn’t send us any photos of him hitting the birds), or the press department got it wrong when he said he was shooting skeet. From the photo, if the President was actually shooting, he would be more likely shooting trap, than skeet.
My doubts have further been raised, when the piolts of Marine One said that they had to close the gates of the hanger when people are on the skeet range at camp david, to avoid pellets from hitting the helicopter. They haven’t really had to do that in the last 8 years. Again hearsay, so no proof. Just food for thought.
Untill I have more information, President Obama take these pointers, and you’ll be dusting those birds in no time.
Progressive Watch 
I also think where his hand is, he would burn it holding it that way. And also, wouldn’t the placing of it on his shoulder so high make a terrible bruise? (First time I ever shot a shotgun, I had an awful bruise! I learned the hard way about that.)
@mtngirlsouth – it depends on the person. I know some people who prefer the gun up high. As long as he holds it tightly against his shoulder I don’t see why it would be an issue. And yes, if he did a lot of shooting he would eventually burn his hand where it is.
It may not be photoshoped, but it is a photo op. Some gunpowder smokes more than other powders. “Unique” in a 9mm pistol smokes like a chimney. Whatever the shotgun version of Unique is mush have been chosen for the photo. I don’t think there are any pellets in the shells. I can’t say why. It just doesn’t look right.The butt of the gun is too far outboard and too high. The rib of the shotgun is higher than the top of his (dark??) safety glasses. I agree, also, that he his leaning way too far back and the rib is too horizontal to be shooting at anything other than a photo op. Releasing the photo during the gun control blather is just too convenient. This is a photo op to make him look like just one of the boys. I’ve never heard that they had to tuck the helicopters away when people are on the range. I wonder if they found out the hard way?
He looks completely unnatural shooting. He doesn’t appear to actually be aiming, the butt of the gun looks to be out to far on his shoulder, and possibly too high (though I do know a few people who just find it more comfortable that high), his trigger hand looks way too contorted, and his supporting hand is too far forward.I’m gonna say it… he shoots like a girl. He is definately not a regular shooter, and if he is, he’s a bad one. No way you’ll hit your target most of the time shooting like that. While likely not photoshopped, based on his stance, it looks like it’s nothing more than a photo op.
@virtus1 – they probably don’t actually have to. When I went to summer camp as a boy there was a trail that went behind the trap range, about 100 or so yards behind the safety barrier, we’d here pellets raining down whenever we went down that trail. They had no knock down power and could do no damage at that point. I imagine that is what is going on at the helicopter hanger, just being safe. I have seen some seriously smoky powder used in a shotgun. My buddy shot his once and fire belched out the barrel about a foot and a half. Of course that was a game load, with a deer slug, and the barrel was full of carbon, but still you never know. I do have a sinking feeling that this is a photo op, but again I have no proof to back that up. Just a gut feeling. So at this point in time all I can do is offer our President some shooting tips.
@grim_truth – “‘I’m gonna say it… he shoots like a girl.” That is the perfect caption for that photograph.
I’ve seen girls with much better shooting stances, I think he shoots like a yuppy, but with practice he’ll get there.