Obama Skeet Shooting Photo — Official unedited White House photo of Obama firing shotgun at Camp David skeet range.

Obama Skeet Shooting Photo

2013Photoshop meme / exploitable imagedead

Published March 31, 2026

Also known as: Skeet-gate · Obama Shooting · Skeet Birthers

The Obama Skeet Shooting Photo is an official White House photograph of President Barack Obama firing a shotgun at Camp David, released on February 2, 2013, after skeptics questioned his claim that he enjoyed skeet shooting2. The image immediately became a Photoshop target after the White House explicitly warned against manipulating it, spawning hundreds of parodies across 4chan, Reddit, Twitter, and political blogs3. The meme sits at the intersection of gun control politics, conspiracy culture, and the internet's inability to resist a challenge.

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Overview

The meme centers on an official photograph showing President Obama in a shooting stance at Camp David's firing range, wearing jeans, a dark polo shirt, sunglasses, and ear protection while smoke billows from his shotgun barrel7. What made it an instant internet sensation wasn't the image itself but the White House's caption, which included a stern disclaimer: "The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials"3. That warning acted like a red flag waved at the internet's collective bull. Within hours, Photoshopped versions flooded every corner of the web, placing Obama's shooting pose into video games, political satire, and absurdist scenarios11.

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Origin & Background

Platform
White House Flickr (source photo), Twitter / 4chan / Reddit (viral spread)
Key People
Pete Souza, Dan Pfeiffer, David Plouffe
Date
2013

On January 27, 2013, President Obama sat down for an interview with The New Republic. When asked if he had ever fired a gun, Obama replied: "Yes, in fact, up at Camp David, we do skeet shooting all the time"1. The remark caught people off guard. Obama had never publicly mentioned skeet shooting as a hobby before, and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney admitted at a press briefing that he didn't know how often the president shot skeet and hadn't seen any photos7.

Republican critics jumped on the claim. Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee challenged Obama to a shooting match, saying "I think he should invite me to Camp David, and I'll go skeet shooting with him. And I bet I'll beat him"2. The Washington Post's Fact Checker column began investigating and found no prior evidence of Obama participating in skeet shooting3.

Six days later, on February 2, 2013, the White House released the now-famous photograph through their official Flickr account3. Taken by White House photographer Pete Souza on August 4, 2012 (Obama's 51st birthday), the image showed Obama shooting clay targets at Camp David's range2. The release was accompanied by the fateful warning against manipulation4.

How It Spread

The photo moved fast. White House Senior Advisor Dan Pfeiffer tweeted the image to more than 40,000 followers on the same day it was released3. Former Obama adviser David Plouffe immediately started trolling skeptics, tweeting: "Day made. The skeet birthers are out in full force in response to POTUS pic. Makes for most excellent, delusional reading"6.

On 4chan, at least two threads dedicated to Photoshopping the image appeared on /b/ (Random) and /k/ (Weapons) within hours3. Reddit's r/PhotoshopBattles picked it up, where the submission pulled in 1,494 upvotes and 313 comments within 48 hours3. Select edits from that thread migrated to r/ProGun and r/Libertarian3.

Facebook saw the creation of dedicated fan pages including "Obama Skeet Shooting Oh So Funny Pics" and "Obama The Skeet Shooter," which together accumulated over 2,000 likes by February 43. Conservative blogs including Breitbart, The Blaze, and Moonbattery ran compilations of the Photoshopped versions10. The New York Post ran the headline "Mock & load!" alongside a gallery of the best edits, which placed Obama shooting at John Boehner, riding around in Grand Theft Auto, and firing flowers while wearing a clown hat11. The Daily Mail, Salon, and New York Magazine all published their own roundups of the parodies and conspiracy theories that same weekend1256.

Meanwhile, a parallel "Skeeter" movement formed among conservative commentators who questioned whether the photo was genuine5. Writers at The American Thinker published detailed breakdowns arguing Obama's stance was wrong, the gun angle too level for skeet, and the smoke pattern suspicious6. Emily Miller of The Washington Times questioned whether Camp David even had enough space for both trap and skeet positions6. Michael Hampton, executive director of the National Skeet Shooting Association, told the press the photo suggested Obama was "a novice shooter" based on his stance and gun mount7.

The NRA dismissed the entire affair. Spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said: "One picture does not erase a lifetime of supporting every gun ban and every gun-control scheme imaginable"7.

Some conspiracy-oriented blogs went further, comparing the skepticism to Obama birth certificate controversies and noting that Obama appeared in different clothing in other photos from the same day4. Conservative blogger Pat Dollard pointed out that Reuters had reported Obama spent August 4, 2012 golfing before heading to Camp David for "a quiet evening," with no mention of skeet shooting6.

Wonkette ran a reader submission gallery titled "A Children's Treasury Of Photoshops Of Barack Obama Hunting Varmints," collecting the best satirical edits from its community9. Salon dubbed the entire controversy "Skeet-gate" and noted MSNBC contributor Ari Melber's quip: "So the gun lobby does support more background checks, but only for Barack Obama's skeet shooting"5.

How to Use This Meme

The Obama Skeet Shooting Photo typically works as a Photoshop exploitable. Users cut Obama's shooting pose from the original image and paste him into new scenarios. Common approaches include:

1

Target swap: Replace the clay pigeons with political figures, concepts, or pop culture characters

2

Context transplant: Drop the shooting Obama into video game screens, movie scenes, or everyday situations

3

Prop change: Swap the shotgun for flowers, water guns, or other absurd objects

4

Political commentary: Add thought bubbles or captions referencing gun control, the Second Amendment, or other policy debates

Cultural Impact

The meme arrived at a politically charged moment. Obama had announced gun control proposals in mid-January 2013, roughly a month after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that killed 20 children and six adults7. The skeet shooting claim was widely interpreted as an attempt to portray the president as sympathetic to gun owners while pushing for an assault weapons ban7.

The "Skeeter" movement drew immediate comparisons to the "birther" conspiracy, with White House officials privately dismissing skeptics by making exactly that comparison8. The New York Times reported that "even some liberals found the skeet-shooting comment hard to believe," though left-leaning media largely treated the conspiracy theories as absurd8.

Fox News Radio host Todd Starnes claimed sources told him Obama rarely went skeet shooting "and the one time that he did he looked 'awkward and uncomfortable'"6. The story became a brief but intense flashpoint in the broader culture war over gun rights, presidential authenticity, and the internet's relationship to political imagery.

Fun Facts

The photo was taken on Obama's 51st birthday, August 4, 2012, but wasn't released until February 2, 2013, nearly six months later2.

A fake photo of Obama skeet shooting had already circulated earlier that week after The New Republic tweeted an image sourced from whitehouse.gov1.info, a site that wasn't the actual White House website. The magazine deleted the tweet once the error was spotted6.

Donald Trump, then known primarily for pushing "birther" conspiracy theories, was notably silent on the skeet shooting controversy. He hadn't tweeted since Friday when the photo dropped on Saturday6.

Reddit's r/PhotoshopBattles thread on the photo generated 313 comments in just two days3.

The phrase "skeet birthers" was coined by David Plouffe, Obama's former campaign manager turned troll-in-chief for this specific news cycle6.

Derivatives & Variations

Grand Theft Auto Obama:

Edits placing Obama as a character in the GTA game interface, complete with weapon HUD[12]

Flower Gun Obama:

Versions replacing the shotgun's output with flowers, often pairing Obama with pacifist imagery[12]

Nintendo Obama:

An old-school NES-style version of the shooting scene[12]

Political Target Edits:

Versions showing Obama "aiming" at the Second Amendment or Republican leaders like John Boehner[11]

Drone Strike Parodies:

Edits referencing Obama's controversial drone warfare program, reframing the skeet shooting as military targeting[12]

Vine Animations:

Animated GIF and Vine versions of the photo, including one by conservative commentator @soopermexican[4]

Frequently Asked Questions