Oscar Pistorius’ Long History With Guns

Charged with murder for shooting a woman believed to be his girlfriend, Oscar Pistorius has a well-documented love of firearms.

South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius, who was an Olympic hero at the 2012 London Games after becoming the first sprinter to compete with prosthetics, has been charged with murder for shooting a woman believed to be his girlfriend. A look back through previous news stories and his Twitter account demonstrates that his history with guns is deep.

2. In January 2012, <i>New York Times Magazine</i> writer Michael Sokolove visited Pistorius in South Africa. Sokolove writes:

Here is the Times Magazine story in full. Early reports from this morning’s shooting allege that Pistorius mistook his girlfriend for a burglar.

Image by Kirsty Wigglesworth, File / AP

3. Sokolove also had this conversation with Pistorius:

Image by Dylan Martinez / Reuters

4. And then Pistorius took the reporter to a shooting range.

Image by Suzanne Plunkett / Reuters

5. Pistorius tweeted about his achievement at the range at one point, and advised American sprinter Wallace Spearmon to go shoot fish with “the biggest [caliber] gun” he had.

Oscar Pistorius @OscarPistorius

Spent the afternoon at the Tormezzo Italian Shooting range. Had a 96% headshot over 300m from 50shots! Bam! lockerz.com/s/160337437

7:13 PM - 28 Nov 11

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Oscar Pistorius @OscarPistorius

@PrinceSpearmon go find a dam and shoot some fish with the biggest Cal. gun you got! Lol

2:56 PM - 30 Sep 10

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7. Finally, it turns out this isn’t Pistorius’ first interaction with the law concerning guns. From an August 2011 story by the Telegraph:

Here is the Telegraph story in full.

Image by David Moir / Reuters