Made In Italy, Mad In The USA

For all the complaints on either side of the political aisle about the media coverage and White House’s handling of the vice president’s shooting his friend in the face while hunting, I’ve yet to hear anyone raise any issue with Mr. Cheney's shotgun being an Italian-made 28-gauge Perazzi. Where are all the “Buy American” advocates?

Reminds me of the Bush debacle back in January of 2003, affectionately called BoxGate (sure, this is a stretch, but it’s such a great story). Bush was in St. Louis announcing his new tax plan to a warehouse full of business leaders and local supporters. Behind him was a painted backdrop depicting crates with “Made in U.S.A.” stenciled on them. Only problem was that all the other actual real crates stacked around the warehouse were stamped “Made in China”. What did Bush’s advance team do? They slapped “Made in U.S.A.” signs over the “Made in China” ones, and would have gotten away with it if a curious reporter hadn't peeled one back to discover the deception.

But back to Cheney for a second: I still can’t get over the fact that out of 1.08 million hunting licenses issued in Texas in 2005, there were 30 reported accidents. To get a broader perspective, the most recent available national statistics show that in 2002 there were 17.9 million active hunters, and 850 reported accidents. I assume that in most cases law enforcement interviewed the shooters as soon as possible, rather than waiting fourteen hours till the next morning. As for the Italian-made 28-gauge Perazzi shotgun, I didn't think they even allowed foreign guns in Texas.