Olympic Shooter Kim Rhode Criticizes California’s Insane Gun Laws

Normally, Olympic athletes try to avoid making political statements. After all, the Olympic games are supposed to be an apolitical event. But Kim Rhode, a skeet shooting champion and three-time gold medal winner, had a lot to say about California’s new gun laws when she was interviewed by The Guardian. “I’m definitely becoming more vocal because I see the need.”

“We just had six laws that were passed in California that will directly affect me. For example, one of them being an ammunition law. I shoot 500 to 1,000 rounds a day, having to do a background check every time I purchase ammo or when I bring ammo out for a competition or a match – those are very, very challenging for me.” She also criticized laws that would make it impossible for certain firearms to be inherited from deceased family members.

Rhode expressed support for concealed carry and noted how often mass shootings occur in places where carrying a gun is restricted. “When you look at these events that have been occurring, they’ve been occurring in some of the strictest gun law countries in the world. You have Paris, you have San Bernardino, which was actually in a gun-free zone, so, yeah, it’s actually something that you take into consideration.”

And finally, Rhode defended our inherent right to defend ourselves, and said that we shouldn’t have to wait for the government to save us in an emergency. “For me personally, I realize the first responsibility of a police officer is to respond to an incident and for me personally, in that five minutes or 10 minutes or 20 minutes in some cases that it takes for them to get there, how do you want to stand there? I would rather have my second amendment right.”