As much as we’ve seen in the way of bad news in the political world of the Second Amendment, there are still good reports in the cultural battles that sometimes get overlooked. Consider this tweet from the news outlet covering Kenyon, Minnesota:
Trap Shooting as a school sport is coming to KW! #kwschoolboard 40 kids signed up as interested in the program.
— KenyonTerri (@KenyonLeader) January 29, 2013
According to Wikipedia’s out-of-date numbers, this seems like it represents a pretty sizable percentage of their entire high school.
Trap shooting is a great way to introduce kids to shooting. It’s safe, fun, and challenging. They’ll love it.
And antis will hate it, whats not to like?
And it has the Presidential Seal of Approval. Him being a big skeet guy and all.
If I ever stayed in a place longer than three years (thanks, Uncle Sam), I’d work on getting shooting into the school I worked at. Oh well. Maybe someday.
My son was on a trap team in high school for 4 years, he really enjoyed it. Some of the females on the team were good at it.
I’ve been waiting for this to come up, and hoping that it gets discovered and turns into a movement.
I graduated HS in the late 60s, in a Major Metropolitan Area in the north end of the mid-Atlantic area. All high schools in our school district had an Army Cadet Program, and male participation was mandatory, unless one fell into an academic hole or could convince one’s parents to request exemption. That happened a lot, so only about 40% of male students participated.
I was ready to petition the ‘rents when I learned three things about my new school: 1) the school – like almost every other high school in the school district – had a rifle range in the basement, and rifles to go with it; 2)there was a Cadet rifle team, and it competed with other schools in the school district; 3) if you were good enough, you earned a spot on the rifle team, which came with near unlimited practice time and ammo, thanks to DCM (now CMP). Already suffering from severe gunpowder addiction, that was an Opportunity Not To Be Missed.
So, twice a month I put on the khakis and marched around the football field in close order drill so I could get access to the rifle range 3 or 4 days a week, and the Stevens and Remington single-shot .22s in the cabinet. Spent my high school years on that range, and the ranges of other schools we competed with.
All those schools still have those ranges, now being used for storage. Undoubtedly, they’d need some environmental upgrades, but for .22 they’d work just fine, not to mention 10 meter air rifle, and if a school can maintain a football team, a chess club or other student organizations, they’re ripe for it. For schools without range facilities it would be pretty easy to set up space for 10 meter air rifle.
While I’m sure the NRA could support this, it seems like an opportunity for local groups to get involved. Lost in the larger pro-gun/anti-gun battles is the need to change the culture, because that’s where, long term, we’ll either win or lose.
I’m contacting my local school board today about it.