Discharging The Duties Of The President and Vice President

Vice Presdient Cheney's involvement in a hunting accident Saturday, reminded me that firearms have played an important role in the history and the course of history of our presidents and vice presidents.

Concerning his involvement with skirmishs involving the French and Indians, George Washington was quoted in the London Magazine as saying "I heard the bullets whistle, and, believe me, there is something charming in the sound." Years latter, when someone asked Wasington about this "charm" quote, he replied, "If I said so, it was when I was young."

Thomas Jefferson's vice president, Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel.

Read more: Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton

Of there Old Hickory, aka, Andrew Jackson, one of the most popular presidents ever -- although his slip in this country where the study and understanding of our history has been replaced by reruns of "Friends" and "Married With Children." A real frontiersman, upper-class Americans, particularly in the Northeast, regarded him as a crude, ignorant and bellicose brawler -- a damn, redneck hillbilly -- who would probably shoot down White House visitors in cold blood if they said something his didn't like. As a young man, Jackson had been involved in a series of duels. He seems to have taken seriously the advice his mother was said to have given him: "Never sue for assault or slander; settle them cases yourself."


Read about Andrew Jackson

Don't forget the assassinations of Lincoln, Garfield, Mckinley and Kennedy and the attempted assassination of Reagan.