by James C. Fulmer | Past President, NMLRA
Every year in October thousands of Americans take up the sport of shooting. Both young and old alike become interested in the shooting sports as the days get shorter. Many are interested in hunting and that is why they are interested in learning to shoot a rifle or shotgun. Some will become involved and join in competition, win awards and even set records, if they discover they have a talent for shooting.
[pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“We are always too busy for our children; we never give the interest they deserve. We lavish gifts upon them; but the most precious gift—our personnel association, which means so much to them—we give grudgingly.”
—Mark Twain 1912[/pullquote]
Many people are introduced to shooting in their youth by a parent, grandparent, relative, or a friend. The success of developing a young person into someone who continues shooting or pursues the sport depends on their memories of that experience. The reason most people shoot firearms for hunting or target shooting is pretty basic. They enjoy shooting because it is simply fun.
The National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association and their Charter Clubs hold many youth shooting programs with matches and competitions for young people to load and fire muzzleloading firearms. What many people don’t realize is that years ago when there was a decline of young adults shooting in muzzleloading matches, the NMLRA introduced air rifles and modern .22 rifles to their youth matches. Why? The NMLRA found that many of the youth coming to the events never fired a firearm, let alone a muzzleloader.
Shotgun lessons can lead to hunting or many aerial sports.
Like any other sport, shooting is an acquired skill that calls for a step-by-step learning approach. The shooting mentor sometimes makes the mistake of having the young shooter trying to tackle too much too soon. When shooters are first introduced to shooting there is a lot to learn. The new shooter must be taught safety rules for safe gun handling and safe firing.
Early success helps build confidence in their shooting ability. The shooting sports need you who are reading this article to take the time to introduce a young person to the shooting sports. It isn’t just the matter of being an instructor and teaching shooting basics, safe gun handling, and sight alignment; or teaching hunting skills necessary to make a successful hunt. It’s also a matter of making it fun and creating the desire to be a part of the shooting sports.
To keep shooting interesting and fun and instill a desire to continue shooting or hunting it needs to be more than a once a year trip to the range or deer hunting. There are many ways to get a child involved in shooting and keep their interest year round. The same skills used for deer hunting can be used for small game and varmint hunting. The memories you are making while teaching a child the patience to wait for a groundhog to come out of his hole or wait for a squirrel will be memories they carry for a lifetime.
Safe, proper loading techniques for cartridge or muzzleloading arms can start at an early age.
There are also ways to introduce young shooters into shooting competition such as shooting postal matches. A postal match is based on an honor system where they shoot one or more targets and then mail the target into a central location to be scored. A postal match gives you as the adult a little leeway when you have to go shoot. Usually there is a postmark date the targets must be in the mail by each month. My two sons and I shot in a Winter Postal Match League. They are now in their mid-thirties and still talk about going out at the last minute in January and February and shooting in bitter cold weather to get our targets turned in for the month.
Make the trip to the range or the hunt an adventure. Stop at a restaurant along the way and sit at the counter for breakfast before the hunt or trip to the range. You would be surprised how many young people have never sat at a counter at a restaurant. Before or after the trip to go hunting or target shooting is just important to the experience as the experience itself.
Even paintball instruction can be memorable.
The most fun in the shooting sport for most people is plinking. Plinking—which simply means informal shooting—is a shooting sport which has virtually no rules except those invented on the spur of the moment. It has no restrictions as to targets, except those which are handy. You can plink with any rifle, the only rule or regulation of any sort which applies to plinking is Safety! Safety first and foremost, and at all times. Make sure if you go to a range they allow plinking. Many ranges have made areas just for plinking. Many clubs in my area have added ranges with a pit just for plinking. Here you can find bowling pins and various steel targets. Most ranges will supply targets for plinking ranges. The NMLRA runs a plinking range during both the Spring and National Shoot. Here young people can come and shoot at steel targets, hang paper targets, and practice. The range was added when it became obvious that only a dozen youth under the age of 16 where shooting in the National Matches when there were up to 300 on site during the week of the shoot. When we started the Youth Range and opened it to “plinking,” I can’t say every child shot, but I can say they at least came down to the range to watch a friend shoot.
When the anti-gunners work against the shooting sport they think in generations. They count on every generation to get further and further from the shooting sport. If we don’t teach our children, who will?
When the anti-gunners work against the shooting sports they think in generations. They count on every generation to get further and further from the shooting sports. If we don’t teach our children, who will?
