Kim Rhode Calls Out Stigma Attached to Shooting Sports

By Jenn Jacques

The gun of an Olympic shooter is no different than a hockey stick to an Olympic hockey player. They’re tools of the trade; equipment used to compete, to excel, to win. But unlike hockey, athletes in shooting sports are held to a different standard.

“We have that stigma attached to our sport,” said 37-year-old Rhode. “When you are talking to a NASCAR driver, they’re not asked to comment on an incident that occurred with a vehicle.”

At the London Olympics, shortly after winning gold in skeet shooting, reporters asked Rhode about gun control – as if the two were intrinsically intertwined.

Can you imagine asking a NASCAR driver about drunk driving laws after winning the Daytona 500?

“We should have the right to keep and bear arms, to protect ourselves and our family,” she said. “The Second Amendment was put in there not just so we can go shoot skeet or go shoot trap. It was put in so we could defend our First Amendment, the freedom of speech, and also to defend ourselves against our own government.”

Rhode, our country’s most decorated Olympic shooter, is a native of Big Bear City and lives in California with her family, where she has …Read the Rest

Source:: Bearing Arms