The White House is still answering for “skeet-gate” and defending the release (and timing) of the photo of President Obama firing a gun in August 2012. With Obama’s much-publicized remarks on gun violence in Minnesota scheduled just days later, many felt the photo release was a cheap stunt. “Why did the White House release the skeet shooting photos three days before this trip?” a reporter asked White House press secretary Jay Carney. Carney said the WH received questions about Obama skeet shooting, “so we decided to tweet a photo of the president shooting at Camp David.” Technically, this is true. President Barack Obama had been asked by the New Republic ‘s Franklin Foer in an interview published on January 27 if he’d ever fired a gun. “Yes, in fact, up at Camp David, we do skeet shooting all the time,” Obama said sending gun rights advocates, the press and the public into a frenzy. The picture was memed all over the Internet, while Obama opponents cried foul and even some supporters shook their heads in bemusement. Carney was asked for photo evidence, but none initially was provided. A Congresswoman asked if she could shoot with him sometime. No response. The main issue is that Obama made the statement while pressing Congress and the public to support gun control measures following the Newtown massacre. Skeet-Gate reeked, to critics, as a PR move. Monday, former senior Obama adviser David Axelrod added to the criticism, saying the White House should have put an end to Skeet-Gate sooner. “They should have put the [ Obama gun photo ] out earlier. I don’t know why they waited five days to put that out,” he said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe . “Because it just rekindled the whole story.” Carney defended the move and stressed Monday that the president’s personal time spent with friends and family at Camp David is not publicized. “I think he has gotten better” at skeet shooting, Carney said, reiterating that our 44th president has never claimed to have grown up “a hunter.”
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Skeet-Gate: White House Defends Obama Gun Photo Release, Timing
