By Joseph P.Tartaro
President, Second Amendment Foundation

Where do young people in America learn about the shooting sports these days?

In the 19th century, learning to shoot was linked to family activities and was often a basic part of growing up, even near big cities. For a big part of that century shooting exhibitions were one of the leading spectator sports and great shooters like Annie Oakley and Plinky Topperwein were singular role models.

During a good part of the 20th century, many junior and senior high schools had indoor range facilities and sponsored interscholastic competitions in which basic rifles and shotguns were often made available by the school sports department. In addition, such organizations as the Boy Scouts, 4-H Clubs, Jaycees and other service organizations had firearms responsibility and marksmanship programs, and many summer camps offered youth an opportunity to learn safe firearms handling and the basics of marksmanship-often linked to National Rifle Association (NRA) programs. Ironically, one of the nation's leading political opponents of firearms familiarity-Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY)-likes to recall that he learned to shoot a .22 rifle in summer camp as a youth and still has the NRA shooting badges he earned to prove it.

However, several things happened-beginning in the latter part of the century-which altered the landscape for youth shooting before we entered the 21st century. Federal gun laws made firearms ownership much more complicated and expensive. A trend toward greater urbanization reduced the numbers of places where parents could take their children shooting safely. Society changed too, and there is now greater competition for recreational hours with an emphasis on organized youth ball sports as well as more physically extreme sports, such as roller blading, skate boarding, snow boarding, mountain climbing and surfing-you name it.

Finally, there were a handful of terrible school-related mass murders involving guns and the anti-gun media hysteria that gave all legal gunowners and shooting sports a bad image among the general public. Once highly-prized and honored, shooting skills were suddenly equated with criminals and terrorists. Many high schools and colleges with long shooting sports traditions closed ranges and dropped their scholastic competition programs with one excuse or another.

But there also has been a concerted effort to restore the shooting sports to their once honored status among American youth. As the 21st century dawned, it was not as difficult as many adults thought to find places where young people could learn safe and responsible gun handling, marksmanship and the joys of structured shooting competition.

To the older programs offered by NRA, the Boy Scouts, 4-H, Jaycees, several new ones were added. Anyone interested in having young people-your own children, relatives, friends and neighbors-learn about guns and how they can provide hours of healthy, safe and enjoyable recreation-doesn't have to look very far.

One of the easiest places to begin is by inquiring from the local office of your state's conservation department about their schedule of hunter safety training classes. Every state and province in North America has a program in which young people-as well as prospective new adult hunters-can learn a lot about firearms as part of a broader curriculum of subjects vital to safe and responsible outdoor recreation. These hunter training courses are usually one or two days-10 to 12 hours-in duration, and most include basic firearms safety and an opportunity to shoot rifles and shotguns under supervision.

Most are conducted under the auspices of the International Hunter Education Association (IHEA) which incorporates some 63 states and provinces in North America. IHEA meets the statutory hunter safety requirements of the states and provinces and claims to have certified 25 million aspiring new hunters since 1949. Not all of the 750,000 graduates IHEA trains each year are young people, but well over half of them are.

The IHEA focus is geared to the specific requirements of each state or province, but the core elements of the classes taught by some 55,000 volunteers each year are almost the same as those used in the NRA's Youth Hunter Education Challenge (YHEC) program. A big difference is that the YHEC is not limited to instruction only, but extends to regional and national competition that provides a continuing test of skills, and an opportunity to add more knowledge and advancement through junior and senior youth levels.

The shortcoming of most state-sponsored hunter ed programs is that once the short course is completed, there is no continuing linkage or reinforcement. The skills learned and the interest developed can die out if the student does not actually hunt or regularly engage in some form of recreational shooting.

The YHEC program offered by NRA includes the basic education but extends it over several youthful years into the late teens. The programs sponsored by the Boy Scout and 4-H clubs also continue for several years and offer further reinforcement and experience.

We'll return to the YHEC program-one of several youth shooting programs of the NRA-and track this year's national competition, but first we'll examine another program of recent origin that can lay a good foundation and lead to adult recreational shooting-the Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) created by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) just two years ago. NSSF is the principle trade association for the US firearms industry.

SCTP provides middle, junior high and high school-age youth with the opportunity to participate in a supervised shooting sports program that emphasizes safety and skill development in clay target shooting-including trap shooting, skeet shooting and sporting clays. The program focuses on teaching sound shooting fundamentals and instilling a safe and responsible attitude towards firearms.

The NSSF board of governors established and sponsors this unique shotgun sports program. Joining NSSF in this nationwide effort is the Amateur Trapshooting Association (ATA), the National Skeet Shooting Association (NSSA) and the National Sporting Clays Association (NSCA) and their affiliated state associations, as well as state wildlife and natural resources agencies and other youth shooting sports organizations from across the country.

In only its second year, SCTP has grown from 750 registered competitors in its first year to over 3,100 young adults, from 40 states, who competed during 2002 for national titles in trap, skeet and sporting clays.

In addition, in 2002, competitors could apply to attend a Junior Olympic Development Camp as well as participate in national title competitions.

Presented by NSSF in cooperation with USA Shooting, this camp was developed to assist USA Shooting in identifying and developing talented young athletes who have potential to become future USA Olympic Team members and, ultimately, our future American Olympic shooting sports champions.

This truly unique first-of-its-type camp was held at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO, Sept. 12-15. This year the SCTP Junior Olympic Development Camp had slots for a total 15 SCTP competitors. In addition, there were five slots for SCTP coaches and/or state directors. The camp was open to all SCTP competitors. However, the selection criteria included, but were not limited to, prior shooting scores, character, interest, maturity, availability, and the individual's ability to benefit from the clinic. USA Shooting furnished all meals, lodging, targets, and ammunition, with the competitors being responsible for transportation to Colorado Springs.

SCTP has three primary goals: firearm safety; character development, and a level playing field for all ages and both genders that is the foundation of a lifetime sport. All competition in the SCTP is based on five-person team squads in trap, skeet or sporting clays. There are two divisions: Junior-6th, 7th and 8th graders; and Senior-9th through 12th graders.
Plans are already afoot for further expansion of the SCTP in future years, but the older NRA's YHEC program-which was initiated in 1985, already provides shooting and hunting skills opportunity for over 50,000 of our nation's youth each year. Well over one million have competed in the program since its inception 17 years ago.

The YHEC program is designed to encourage young hunters to build upon the basic skills they learn in state-level hunter education courses. After completing a state course, and competing in a state or local YHEC, youngsters are eligible to compete in the annual international event.

It's in watching true sportsmen like 14-year-old Ted Shaver, from Ontario, OR, at this year event that you can see and appreciate how the responsibility and sportsmanship of shooting and hunting helps shape our nation's youth into better people. Shaver, along with nearly 300 other youths, competed in the 17th annual YHEC that was held this year from July 22-26, in Mansfield, PA. (Next year it will return to the NRA Whittington Center in Raton, NM.)
When Shaver saw that a scoring mistake in the .22 rifle event gave him more points than he'd earned, he immediately told an official and had the score reduced. That's a significantly different youth trait than we encounter too often these days.

Shaver was among young hunters from 20 states who competed in this year's challenge, facing eight events: .22 rifle; shotgun; muzzleloader; archery; orienteering; hunter safety trail; wildlife identification, and a written hunter safety exam.
The contingent from Louisiana amassed an impressive string of victories. The DeSoto Youth Sportsmen took top honors in the junior team category, while their older brethren took second in the senior team arena. Chet Carpenter, 17, of Tioga, LA, took home first in the senior individual category, and Charlie Edwards and Philip Young took home second and third place, respectively, in the junior individual category.

The Missouri Magnums, clad in personalized blaze-orange hunting vests, emerged as senior team champions. The Magnums have an unusually strong team bond-they've been competing together for the last three years.
Devon Babcock, 14, from Pennsylvania, emerged as the top-finishing individual junior.

The NRA's YHEC and NSSF SCTP present just two opportunities for young men and women to learn about and experience the shooting sports. As previously mentioned, state conservation departments are another good place to start. In addition, local shooting clubs may offer a variety of programs, and the local Jaycees or Boy Scout troop can provide information about any programs that they may offer. Not all Jaycee, Scout or 4-H organizations may offer the same programs, but they are out there for those who have an interest, and present a great opportunity to introduce young people to the shooting sports.

In the case of 4-H clubs, you can usually inquire if such programs are offered locally by contacting your county extension agent or the nearest land-grant college.

For more information on local or national YHEC events or on how to get involved, call NRA's Hunter Services Department at: 703-267-1500, or log on to the NRA website at: www.nrahq.org.

For more information about SCTP, whether as an individual participant or as a school that would be interested in linking it to their scholastic sports program, phone the NSSF's scholastic programs department at: 203-426-1320, or check out their website at: www.nssf.org.