Young Shooters Are "The Target" . . .

Joined
Dec 13, 2005
Messages
4,150
Likes
177
Location
THE GREAT "BAY STATE"
Feedback: 5 / 0 / 0
penny.jpg


Gun clubs target child members

Peter Munro
September 2, 2007

CHILDREN as young as 12 are increasingly taking up shooting in their spare time in response to a push by gun clubs to attract teenagers.
The Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (SSAA), which already promotes "come and try" days at rifle ranges to families with young children, will this month launch its "sign up a junior" campaign.
Members of the group, the largest of its kind in Australia, have been urged to enrol their "son or daughter, grandchild, nephew or niece". The peak body has discounted its annual fees to children and will give away a $3500 quad bike to one new junior member.

Association national president Bob Green last month wrote to the group's 104,000 members saying new members were needed to "save the sport you love and wipe the smile off the anti-gun lobby's face".
Essential to that cause was introducing children "into the world of shooting at an early age". He wrote: "[It] really doesn't matter if they are five or 15."

Figures obtained by The Sun-Herald show there is already a surge of interest in shooting among children. Nationally, the SSAA's junior stocks have risen by more than 7 per cent this year. In NSW the number of new members aged 12 to 17 has soared from 15 in 2000 to an estimated 400 last year.

SSAA Victoria runs up to 50 junior programs a year that invite first-time shooters to try firing rifles at targets, which can include hunting images such as elephants and rhinoceros.

The number of junior gun licences approved by Victorian police has risen from 4750 to 5063 in five years. Applicants must first pass a safety exam and are restricted to using prescribed firearms and only under the direct supervision of an adult licence holder.

The Melbourne Gun Club has experienced a five-fold increase in the number of new juniors since 2002, taking its tally to about 500 young members, including many children who elect to take shooting as a school sport.

Gun Control Australia's president John Crook said that the surge in young shooters could lead to a rise in violent crime. "Guns and puberty are a dangerous mix," he said. "Targeting juniors increases the likelihood of gun addiction.

"The trouble with kids is that they may think that violence is a way of solving problems."

But Rod Drew, the chief executive of Field and Game Australia, which markets trial shooting days to young families, including single mothers, said there was strict supervision on young licence holders to prevent mishaps.

"It goes right down to someone else loading their gun for them," Mr Drew said.
 
"Gun Control Australia's president John Crook said that the surge in young shooters could lead to a rise in violent crime. "Guns and puberty are a dangerous mix," he said. "Targeting juniors increases the likelihood of gun addiction."

What a typical fear mongering anti gunner's response!

Problem is, all the data to date completely contradicts his view. Kids that are educated about guns and who are exposed to guns early, learn to respect them and are the least likely to abuse them or have an accident with them at any point in their lives.
 
"Gun addiction"?? Damn... too late for me! [laugh]

Seriously... they're going about it the right way. It'll take a while, but they'll get a generation of voters who understand that guns aren't the One Ring and do NOT turn their owners to eeeeevil. Smart.

We should do likewise... have YOU taken a youngster shooting lately?

(my score: one niece, one nephew (AND his fiancee). And I have a couple of young friends who have been invited to the range; as they're students, they haven't had time to go yet.)
 
dwarven1 said:
We should do likewise... have YOU taken a youngster shooting lately?
Spent a day at the range with my oldest daughter a few weeks back. Hard to tell which of us had a better time.
IMG_0408.jpg

IMG_0404.jpg

I guess she finally qualifies for a "Kalashnikitty" shirt...
 
Thats great @ least their not equating them to the hitler youth clubs!

They reserve the right to use that slur only for the Boy Scouts of America. However they are diligently working on a slur that totally overstates their case and transcends the absurd.

B
 
The very future of gun ownership depends on the number of kids we attact today. As a rifle coach of a junior rifle team I know that only a part of those we interest today will stay with the sport in future years. However I do believe that a large percentage of them will view guns in a positive manner all their adult life.

It behooves clubs and gun owners to day to interest young people in the sport. We cannot afford to be apathetic and let others do it.
 
Back
Top Bottom