Obama 2010: 'I practice with the Secret Service'

President Obama discusses his skeet shooting in the Rose garden with Sarah Scherer (Sep. 13, 2010).

WASHINGTON ' The five members of Texas Christian University's national championship rifle team were already beside themselves to be on the South Lawn of the White House Monday evening at a celebration of all NCAA sports champions when President Barack Obama gave them the first shout-out.

"We've got the sharpshooters from the TCU rifle squad. Where are they?" Obama asked as the all-female team's members, standing near the camera risers, screamed. "I think that they may be able to give the Secret Service a run for their money."

The TCU Horned Frogs team earned some extra attention since it's the first all-female national rifle championship winner in NCAA history ' the sport can have all male, mixed gender and all female teams.

"That was so awesome," said Sarah Scherer, 19, a sophomore from Fort Worth, "to be recognized by the president."

...

Obama told the TCU team that he, too, practiced shooting with a rifle. "He said he practiced with the Secret Service," said Riford, who graduated from TCU in May and now works in Fort Worth.

McClatchy

Scherer wrote that President Obama asked her in which sport she competed. When Scherer told him she was a rifle shooter, he joked about his experiences with skeet shooting.

'It was cool to know that despite his crazy schedule, even the president has wanted to try out his shooting skills,' Scherer wrote.

TCU Rifle Champion and Olympian Sarah Scherer in an email to a reporter.

Apparently she's been in on the conspiracy for a few years now. (facepalm)

It is truly irrelevant that the president of the United States shoots clay at his country house. What is relevant is people, especially children, getting shot while going about the daily routines of life.

For people who find a conspiracy behind every single thing this president does, that point will be immediately dismissed. For the Washington media looking for a gotcha moment, this point will be immediately examined for political impact. But for those of us in the reality-based world who want even stricter gun control than the president is proposing, just take solace in the fact that even President Obama, gun lover, can understand how one can balance love of shooting stuff with public safety.

President Obama's gun hobby only reinforces our point: You don't need an assault rifle arsenal to enjoy your God-given, Scalia-enforced right to pack heat.