Tag Archives: school shooting team

Moving boldly into Daisy territory

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When I was a pup back at Pascagoula High School in the early 1990s I was in NJROTC.  We had an rack after rack of dewatted M1903 drill rifles, a couple of .38 Model 10s, and a locker full of Mossberg 42T and Remington Model 40 .22LR rimfires for use in marksmanship training.

Every Thursday we pulled the 1903’s, which had steel bars welded inside their barrels (it will make you cry) out for close order drill.

Every Friday we moved the chairs and tables against the wall then shot (with real bullets!) the Mossbergs and Remmys at a steel target trap on the other end of the drill hall about 25 feet away.

On campus.

I know, right? Yet I never saw or heard of any student ever getting winged and we had 150~ kids plinking away every Friday. Mmmm, I can still taste the lead in the air!

Now the news that a NJROTC unit in North Carolina has set up a pellet gun range (paid for by Pittman-Roberston funds from the NC Fish and Wildlife department and a grant from the National Shooting Sports Foundation) is a big deal: (Try not to drool over the M1s– I assure you, they have a steel bar welded inside them as well)

Good for them.

Hopefully more units will get similar ranges in the future. After all, in scholastic trap and clay teams are making a comeback in some areas so you never know.

Meanwhile, in Russia…

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School shooting teams making a comeback

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Let us face it; youth that are not exposed to the shooting sports grow up to be adults who don’t hunt. Sadly, for generations, the country’s youth have been left alone to gravitate towards electronic pacifiers and away from the traditions of the clays stand, bench rest, and hunting field.

Why does this matter?

Firearms education and the shooting sports reduce gun accidents and passes on this ancient activity to today’s youth. To keep this age old and time-honored tradition alive, young people need to be educated and involved in safe, regulated hunting and shooting.

Just as recently as the 1960s, most elementary and middle schools allowed local game wardens or law enforcement officials to come into the classes and give firearms safety and hunters education to children. Then by the time these same budding shooting sports enthusiasts reached high school, odds were their was an opportunity to join the campus small-bore or clays club then compete against other area schools own teams. These same youth accompanied their fathers and uncles into the field, first for small game then for larger and anxiously awaited the day when they would get their first rifle or shotgun of their very own.

Then came the counter culture shift of the 70s and the draconian gun laws and media messages of the 80s that vilified not only firearms but also the shooting sports as a whole. This resulted in fewer new shooters, which amplified over time, as those children who did not receive the tribal gun knowledge, became adults who were afraid of firearms.

Many parents today, having no gun history to fall back on other than Hollywood, would never dare give a gift of one to their children. Some states have made it illegal for youth under 16 to even purchase a BB gun.

Well it seems like in some cases, that trend is being corrected.

MIT has a shooting team-- and its really popular (Photo by WaPo)

MIT has a shooting team– and its really popular (Photo by WaPo)

Read the rest in my column at Big Game Hunt Journal