A photo of President Barack Obama skeet shooting at Camp David has been released following a claim last week that he engages in the activity regularly.
It is the only known photo of Obama with a gun, and also comes amid a White House-backed push for stronger gun control regulations in the U.S.
The photo shows Obama targeting clay pigeons at the presidential retreat last August, which he said he does "all the time" during stays at the compound.
The comment, in an interview last Sunday, was a response to a question of whether he had ever held a firearm. Obama told the New Republic:
"Not the girls, but oftentimes guests of mine go up there. I have a profound respect for the traditions of hunting that trace back in this country for generations."
"And I think those who dismiss that out of hand make a big mistake."
Given the current political atmosphere and polarizing gun control debate, some questioned whether the claim was an embellishment or even true at all.
Politicians who use firearms often advertise that fact to gun owners, but in four years in office and two national campaigns, Obama has never brought it up.
"If he is a skeet shooter, why have we not heard of this?" asked Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). "Why has he not referenced it at any point [during this] gun debate?"
"Why have we not seen photos?"
Asked about the president's interview, Press Secretary Jay Carney responded "I would refer you simply to his comments," he said. "I don't know how often."
Carney noted that when Obama travels to "Camp David, he goes to spend time with his family and friends and relax, not to produce photographs."
Some Obama supporters have already brushed off critics as "skeeters," a play on the "birthers" like Donald Trump who doubted he was a U.S. citizen.
"Attn skeet birthers. Make our day - let the photoshop conspiracies begin!" senior adviser and 2008 campaign manager David Plouffe wrote on Twitter.
Conspiracy or not, and no matter how curiously timed the photo's release may be, what can't be refuted is the President's commitment to reform.
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