NSSF Does AP’s Job For Them, Calls Wire Service’s Sheehy Shooting Story ‘False and Inaccurate’

Montana’s incumbent senator Jon Tester is in trouble in his bid for reelection. The Democrat from a deep red state is running against Tim Sheehy, a Bronze Star-awarded Navy SEAL and Republicans are expecting Sheehy to flip the Montana seat, helping them to take back control of the Senate in next week’s election.

The polls are consistently leaning in Sheehy’s direction . . .

But this is October, the time for the fruits of oppo research to be dropped, designed to derail campaigns. Toward that end, the state media news agency otherwise known as the Associated Press ran a story last week challenging Sheehy’s story about a wound he says he sustained in Afghanistan.

The AP quotes a former park ranger who claims Sheehy actually sustained an arm injury as a result of accidentally shooting himself in a national park parking lot.

…The Washington Post quoted a Glacier National Park ranger anonymously saying Sheehy accidentally shot himself in 2015, when he was travelling (sic) with his family and his gun fell out of a vehicle and fired when it hit the ground in a parking lot on Logan Pass. The ranger who was quoted in the story was [former Park Service ranger Kim] Peach.

Sheehy was ticketed and paid a $525 fine for illegally discharging a firearm in Glacier, government records show.

The Republican candidate said in response to the April story that he lied to the park ranger — not about being wounded in Afghanistan.

Sheehy said he fell while hiking at Glacier and injured his arm, then concocted the story about the bullet wound to cover up the fact that the 2012 incident [in Afghanistan] may have been friendly fire. He said he didn’t want members of his SEAL unit in Afghanistan to suffer any consequences.

The Sheehy campaign is characterizing the AP story as a political hit.

A Sheehy campaign spokesperson said Peach was a partisan Democrat pushing a “defamatory story.”

“Anyone trying to take away from the fact that Tim Sheehy signed up for war as a young man and spent most of his 20s in some of the most dangerous places in the world is either a partisan hack, a journalist with an agenda, or outright a disgusting person,” spokesperson Katie Martin said.

The NSSF has done what the AP didn’t…a little investigative journalism. They’ve looked into the details of what allegedly happened, including the fact that the gun involved was a single action Colt revolver, and have issued the following statement in support of Sheehy . . .

NSSF, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, has seen in recent days media repeat an unsubstantiated allegation the Montana U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy mishandled a firearm, resulting in personal injury to himself. The fact that this months-old and unproven allegation is resurfacing in the closing days of a hotly-contested election is unsurprising, given the current state of politics and hyperbolic rhetoric that has come to characterize our political contests.

NSSF has examined the facts, as presented by media reporting, and offers the following observations based on the design, safety features and protocols, and caliber of the firearm Mr. Sheehy was carrying at the time of the alleged incident in Glacier National Park in October of 2015.

“The proper way to carry a single action Colt .45 revolver is with the hammer down on an empty chamber to prevent an unintended discharge should the firearm be accidentally dropped or fall. Based on the facts as we understand them, the park ranger found the revolver with the hammer down on an empty chamber. Therefore, it would appear Mr. Sheehy was following proper gun safety protocol. In which case, the revolver could not have discharged a round unintentionally even if it was accidentally dropped or fell,” said Lawrence G. Keane, Senior Vice President and General Counsel for NSSF – The Firearm Industry Trade Association.

“Additionally, modern firearms are designed to industry standards to withstand abusive mishandling to prevent them from discharging unintentionally if dropped,” Keane added. “A point-blank discharge of a Colt .45 round would have caused extensive – and obvious – damage to Mr. Sheehy’s arm and would have required immediate medical attention, possibly including surgery, of the gunshot wound. If Mr. Sheehy were actually shot at Glacier as is alleged, it is unimaginable he would walk out of the hospital just a few hours later. For these reasons, we believe the allegation, as reported by the media, that Tim Sheehy’s single action Colt .45 revolver discharged when it fell or was dropped striking him in his arm is false and inaccurate.”