Guns and governors used to go together a lot more frequently during the early years of America than they do today. Everyone remembers the famous duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, but give credit also to Teddy Roosevelt, perhaps the only president to pack heat in the White House. Politicians of this age prefer to pose with guns for photo ops than to actually use them. But none of those politicians are Dick Cheney.

On this day, February 11, in 2006, then Vice-President Dick Cheney and Harry Whittington, a 78 year-old lawyer friend of his, were on a vacation hunting trip at a Texas ranch. According to several witnesses, the two were hunting quail when Whittington went into the woods ahead to look for a downed bird. On his way back to rejoin the Vice President, a bird flew up between the two men. Cheney shot, and hit Whittington in the face and neck with a buckshot.

The media made much of the incident. News organizations devoted considerable resources to covering the event and forecasting its implications, while comedians were quick to point out the absurdity of the situation. David Letterman included the incident in his Top-10 list the following night, suggesting one of Cheney’s excuses was “I thought he was trying to go gay cowboy on me,” while comedian Jon Stewart remarked Cheney had reached such a level of power that he could shoot a man in the face and get him to apologize for it.