Shooting for the Future..

[Lisa]

by Jeff Knox

It's a common topic of discussion at any gun club meeting or any other gathering of shooters: the dwindling number of shooters and hunters getting involved in the shooting sports. Someone will point out the prevalence of gray hair on the firing line and decry the lack of young people getting involved in the shooting sports.

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I found this article interesting and am wondering what does your organization/club to do get the young children involved with your sport?

We have a three tier system.

The first tier involves learning proper usage of a rifle (using air rifles, junior sized if warranted) and a hunter's safety course. You must be a minimum of 9 years old to do this course. It runs once a week. The kids do one hour of hunter's safety and one hour of shooting.

The second tier is our Novice program. This is for kids that have either finished the first tier or have already received their hunter's safety through another organization or club and are interested in becoming competitive with their shooting. Here we supply the shooting jackets and rifles. They are also exposed to .22 shooting, both prone and 3P as well as a variety of other firearms including handguns. These shooters also can shoot in our local matches. This program runs once a week.

The third tier is our advanced program. We meet twice a week, are expected at this point to supply our own equipment. We do offer a lease program for some of the equipment. We are eligible for funding providing we meet the requirements such as shooting a minimum amount of matches including the provincial championships. From these members we will pick the teams for the Canada Winter Games, etc.

As it stands now we have about 25 active competitive shooters in the Advanced program and 14 and 16 in the hunter's safety and novice programs respectively. The ages range from 11 to 50+

The majority of our advertising is word of mouth however, in the past few years we have advertised in our city's "Leisure Guide" that is delivered to homes across the city. The advertisement has helped us immensely and this year our Novice program and Hunter's safety program has had to turn people away because we lack the facility to operate. We are hoping to build a new range in the near future to accommodate the growing needs of our programs.

 

[arnisandyz]

Some of the disciplines at my range offer youth programs. I believe the silhouette and clay shooters have junior divisions. I really wish that IDPA and USPSA (which I am primarily involved in) would create a youth division and allow them to use .22 pistols to introduce them to the sport. The rules would have to be changed maybe by allowing them to start from low-ready vs drawing from the holster. I'd like to see some new blood...Its sad when I am the youngest (and I'm no spring chicken going on 40)! I have a 7 year old daughter that I want to eventually start bringing and starting her on a .22 vs a 9mm would be an easier transition.

 

[Lisa]

My youngest would LOVE to get into IDPA or another handgun competition. The big thing out here right now is Cowboy action shooting but she isn't into dressing up, lol.

I know how you feel about being 40 and being the youngest. My husband is referred to as "the kid" in long range. He is 42. I went with him to the annual general meeting for our association a few months ago and it was a sad turn out. 10 years before that the place was packed, we had maybe 20 people there.

I was hoping to get other ideas on how to get younger people involved. I think our gun laws up here have scared many people off.

 

[SFC JeffJ]

I'm not a member of any organizations, but I have done a little to pass it on. In the past, a few of my wifes TKD students expressed interest in shooting. So after getting permission from their parents, I tought them about gun safety and took them out on the range. A couple of them stuck with it and I'm proud to say one of them is now in the
2nd Ranger batt.

 

[Blindside]

I was hoping to get other ideas on how to get younger people involved. I think our gun laws up here have scared many people off.

I learned on a .22 bolt action in Boy Scouts. My parents weren't anti-gun, but they just viewed guns as tools, tools that they didn't see much need for in suburbia. The 12 gauge, the .270, the .22 rifle, and .44 mag Rugar all saw use when we lived in the boonies of Alaska.

My sister never got exposed, and was pretty leery of firearms, fortunately she married a gun nut, so I'm not too worried about my nephew growing up shooting.

I live in Wyoming right now, and lots of kids grow up shooting and hunting, very very different than a Seattle suburb. I'm not too worried about it dying out here. I am concerned that people who don't get exposed to firearms will fear what they don't know and attempt to control it, I'd hate for our gun laws to end up like Canada (sorry Lisa.)

I've trained a number of the interns who come to work for me (interning in wildlife biology) on gun handling and shooting, under the guise that it is a useful skill to have for future wildlife work. A surprising number of them have never handled a gun before.

Lamont

 

[Lisa]

I am concerned that people who don't get exposed to firearms will fear what they don't know and attempt to control it, I'd hate for our gun laws to end up like Canada (sorry Lisa.)

Lamont

Don't be sorry, Lamont. Just fight like hell and don't let it happen to you. A lot of us fought a hard battle and lost. The government in power then was going to do it no matter what.

We have a cadets program that also exposes children to firearms, both air rifle and .22, it is a great program.

Where (and when) my husband was growing up, things were a lot different.
I think your comment about fear is a good one. People always fear what they don't know. Multiply that with bad press and tough laws, it makes for a tough fight to keep the sport of shooting going.

 

[Rich Parsons]

Don't be sorry, Lamont. Just fight like hell and don't let it happen to you. A lot of us fought a hard battle and lost. The government in power then was going to do it no matter what.

We have a cadets program that also exposes children to firearms, both air rifle and .22, it is a great program.

Where (and when) my husband was growing up, things were a lot different.
I think your comment about fear is a good one. People always fear what they don't know. Multiply that with bad press and tough laws, it makes for a tough fight to keep the sport of shooting going.

Lisa et al, I have not seen in a country with gun control or laws that prohibit ownership to be more specific where it has lowered crimes. I know that it may have lowered gun crimes, but I still contend that there are crimes being committed, such as the blade issue in England.

As to the future of shooting, I can only hope that people will continue to teach the young the basics. I also think that if the young have friends that are interested also get them exposed as well. Of course with parental approval and participation as well. I think it is matter of exposure. Many who grew up with a gun do not think about it and may not even expose their kids and they no longer hunt or shoot and their kids just do not know about it.

I have seen people get interested when a parent dies and they inherit a family gun. Just think if they could have used it with the parent even just shooting it at the range once or twice. It does not have to be the parent if they no longer feel comfortable but they could take it with them and allow the grown adult child to shoot it. They could give it to the grown adult child before their death and then maybe go watch them.

Programs are good, ones that educate and make people comfortable. The fact that people handle them and they do not go off.

I remember being at a friends house and while we were talking he pulled out a couple of pistols and cleaned them up from shooting earlier in the day. My ex-wife was not comfortable but as I was not upset she did not say anything until later. She was not around guns and she was nervous that the unloaded disassembled firearm would shoot her just sitting on the table.

Education and understanding I think are the keys.

 

[Cruentus]

Lisa et al, I have not seen in a country with gun control or laws that prohibit ownership to be more specific where it has lowered crimes. I know that it may have lowered gun crimes, but I still contend that there are crimes being committed, such as the blade issue in England.

As to the future of shooting, I can only hope that people will continue to teach the young the basics. I also think that if the young have friends that are interested also get them exposed as well. Of course with parental approval and participation as well. I think it is matter of exposure. Many who grew up with a gun do not think about it and may not even expose their kids and they no longer hunt or shoot and their kids just do not know about it.

I have seen people get interested when a parent dies and they inherit a family gun. Just think if they could have used it with the parent even just shooting it at the range once or twice. It does not have to be the parent if they no longer feel comfortable but they could take it with them and allow the grown adult child to shoot it. They could give it to the grown adult child before their death and then maybe go watch them.

Programs are good, ones that educate and make people comfortable. The fact that people handle them and they do not go off.

I remember being at a friends house and while we were talking he pulled out a couple of pistols and cleaned them up from shooting earlier in the day. My ex-wife was not comfortable but as I was not upset she did not say anything until later. She was not around guns and she was nervous that the unloaded disassembled firearm would shoot her just sitting on the table.

Education and understanding I think are the keys.

I agree with Rich here.

It's like sex ed.

What's better, educating children through a realistic and age appropriate sex education program, or through parental fear and avoidance allowing mythology to build? And which method is going to likely prevent an accident if the kid is over a friends house and comes across an unsecured weapon?

Reasonable education is definatily the answer...

 

[Rich Parsons]

I agree with Rich here.

It's like sex ed.

What's better, educating children through a realistic and age appropriate sex education program, or through parental fear and avoidance allowing mythology to build? And which method is going to likely prevent an accident if the kid is over a friends house and comes across an unsecured weapon?

Reasonable education is definatily the answer...

I have told this story before:

A friend at work asked his oldest child to get something from his bedroom. She went in and came out and closed the door and went to Dad and told him there was an unsecure weapon on the dresser. She knew that it should have been locked up or with a trigger lock on it for her to be in the room. The Mom was in the adjoining bathroom and had been interrupted putting it away. The child through proper education did the right thing. She clsoed the door so her little sisters would not see it and be tempted even though they had the same training, and told her dad immediately.

The child enjoys going shooting with her dad even though all she does is collect his spent shells. She has her own ear protection and eye protection so it is hers and it is an outting for them.

I know some would argue that they would not need the education or the risk without the gun present. But other would argue that there is enjoyment and what if she had run across this on the street and not known how to react.

 

[Cruentus]

I know some would argue that they would not need the education or the risk without the gun present. But other would argue that there is enjoyment and what if she had run across this on the street and not known how to react.

Great story Rich.

The thing about people who think that "my kids wouldn't need the education if there weren't any guns around" is that they follow the same line of logic as parents who think, "My kids don't need sex education because they will only have sex if they get married." They simply are not being realistic or safe.

Even if we outlawed all gun ownership today, guns would still exist on the streets. There is no reasonable expectation that a kid will never run into a situation, be at a friends house or where-ever, where there is an unsecured firearm present. It really pays to have that education when this situation occurs.