Obama skeet shooting photo to allay gun owner concerns

US: The White House has released a photo of President Barack Obama skeet shooting in an apparent bid to allay concerns by gun owners that he opposes firearms following a school massacre in December.

The photo was made public as Obama prepares to hit the road Monday to push his plan to curb gun violence as he presses Congress to enact sweeping gun restrictions. The effort to ban assault rifles and high capacity magazines has become a centerpiece of the president's second term agenda after a disturbed man gunned down 20 children and six adults on December 14 in the once quiet town of Newtown, Connecticut.

The president said last week that he had picked up skeet shooting as a hobby, telling The New Republic that he shot at clay pigeons “all the time.”

But his newfound love for the shooting sport was met with skepticism from conservative skeptics. Obama had not previously mentioned his skeet shooting habit in public. The newly released photo, taken on August 4 at the president's Camp David retreat in Maryland and posted on the White House's Flickr page on Friday, shows Obama firing at clay targets, according to the caption.

The president, in jeans and a black polo shirt and wearing protective glasses and ear muffs, is seen looking down the barrel of a shotgun locked on his left shoulder moments after pulling the trigger, with smoke spewing out the barrel.

There was no confirmation, however, of when Obama -- an avid basketball player -- took up the hobby and how regularly he practices. “It was a surprise to a lot of people in the industry when we saw that and heard that,” National Skeet Shooting Association executive director Michael Hampton told The New York Times. His group's 35,000 members do not include the president.

AFP