Typical CYA stuff from national. If someone gets hurt doing something fun, they can point fingers at the adult leaders involved and absolve themselves from liability. Don't let it sour your opinion on Scouts.
I raised two Eagle Scouts and while in Scouts they were involved in plenty of 'boys will be boys' activities and had a great time. In fact I used to bring a water balloon slingshot for picnics way back in Cub Scouts- at least until a small group of moonbats went all namby pamby. Such activities moved to smaller, non-Scout get-togethers sans the crybaby parents.
Yes, we had moonbats even in the South, but they and their kids tended to drop out before the activities became more manly. Though my boys could learn to clean a fish from me any time, there were others who had no one to teach them such things. More than a few single moms wanted their boys to have such activities. The nambys usually came in pairs.
My boys not only had the opportunity to shoot 22's but also shot high power and black powder rifles. We made several 100+ mile backpacking treks, including a trip from Tennessee to Maine for a hike through the AT 100 mile wilderness. That one built some character, but damn near turned me into a namby pamby crybaby.
Good gawd, what a nasty trail. Anyway, there's still plenty of fun to be had in Scouts.
Rules from National are not always killjoy oriented. One of the things from National that we always took dead serious was the child protection policies. Important not only to protect the kids, but also to protect adult leaders from false accusations.
While my boys are not complete angels, they're really good young men- trustworthy, hard working, and kind to others. They weren't complete Scout nerds either- both were good football players, decent students, and had other activities as well. I highly recommend Scouts.