Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) is questioning President Obama’s claim that he’s an avid skeet shooter, challenging him to invite her the next time he goes shooting.
"I think he should invite me to Camp David, and I'll go skeet-shooting with him, and I bet I'll beat him," said Blackburn Monday night on CNN’s “OutFront with Erin Burnett.”
In an interview in
The New Republic published Sunday, Obama, who is seeking to build public support for a sweeping package of gun reforms, expressed respect for the nation’s sportsmen and hunters. Asked if he’d ever fired a gun, Obama responded that at Camp David he skeet-shoots “all the time.”
But Blackburn on Monday showed skepticism and suggested the president’s claim was just an effort to swing support in the nation’s gun-reform debate.
"If he is a skeet shooter, why have we not heard of this? Why have we not seen photos? Why hasn't he referenced this at any point in time as we have had this gun debate that is ongoing?” Blackburn asked. “You would have thought it would have been a point of reference.”
At a press conference on Monday, White House press secretary Jay Carney, asked about the president’s previously undisclosed hobby, said he's not "sure how often" Obama goes skeet shooting.
Carney was also asked why the public hadn’t seen any pictures of Obama skeet-shooting at the presidential retreat in Maryland, and replied, "Because when he goes to Camp David, he goes to spend time with his family and friends and relax, not to produce photographs.
"There may be [a photo]," Carney added, "but I haven't seen it."
Obama is urging Congress to enact new restrictions on gun ownership. The president is pressing for universal background checks as well as bans on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips. Obama also recently signed a number of executive actions aimed at tightening current gun laws.
Those efforts, though, have faced strong pushback from the nation's gun-rights lobby and GOP lawmakers.
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