My Soap Box

I just can't get on the political soap box. I've tried, but I keep falling off. The political rhetoric starts in and it makes me sleepy. But since the political debates are on everyone's mind and pages, I'll try to keep on topic.... sorta.

I'm going to discuss the (nowadays) politically incorrect topic of kids and guns. Every debate has two sides, and this one is mine.
My son is involved with Shooting Sports with the 4H.

Yes, that nice, sweet little 4 leaf clover iconic group is armed. Unfortunately, these days to bring up the topic is poison. You don't mention kids and guns in the same sentence without shuddering. This post is not meant in ANY way to make fun of the danger of guns. So please, don't take offense.

If I touch on a nerve, I appologize. But there ARE some good things to be said, and if any of you have boys (or girls), you might understand.

I have 3 sons. I decided not to buy them toy guns when they were growing up. When they got to be about the age of 5 or so, I found out that in the hands of little boys, just about anything goes "bang." Cars went bang, the broom went bang, action figures went bang, kewl sticks went bang, bang, bang. In fact almost everything began to go bang. So I bought them toy guns that didn't resemble real guns. You know, green and purple guns or such. Soon after, cars returned to being cars, action figures became action figures, and sticks went back to whatever sticks do. And guns were no longer objects of fascination for my sons...well for two of them at least.

Which brings me to my point.. I know, I know.. it takes me long enough!
When my youngest son was in middle school, the 4H Club held a meeting for all the kids to talk about the clubs available. One club they were offering was a BB gun shooting team. That's all it took. My youngest was ecstatic. He lovd guns. So much it worried me. So to channel that interest, we joined the 4H Club'sBB gun team. It's a wonderful program. He was a team member 4 years. The team went to District and State competitions and small area meets too. Imagine 200+kids at these events, all with BB guns and not ONE person was ever hurt. No accidents with guns ever happened in the program for the 4 years (in fact before or since) that we were involved.

Now at 17 years old, my son is a competitive shooter with 4H and the ROTC in the Air Rifle 'Division'. There is an age limit for BB gun team members and when he reached it, he didn't want to quit shooting competitively. Together with another parent and the help of 4H we started our county's first Precision and Sporter Air rifle team.

We (he shoots, I watch and do the 'Mom' thing - fingers crossed, etc.) participate in a shooting event almost every month at Ft. Benning, GA. Matches are sponsored by the American Legion, Boy Scouts, and many other organizations. Some of the kids he currently competes against are literally world class shooters. There are Olympic shooters, World Cup Shooters, Junior Olympic Shooters, beginner shooters, ROTC teams, a wide variety skills levels are represented.

A perfect score on a target is a 10. To get a perfect score you have to hit the bulls eye which is the size of the head of a pin. It's the size of the head of a pin close up. Imagine how miniscule that pin head looks when it is down range10 meters (33 feet). You can't see it. All you see is a black dot. Inside that black dot are 10 rings. In the center of those ten rings is that pin head bulls eye. It ain't easy to hit!

Hey! Did you know that girls often out shoot the boys! (ssshh, we don't tell the boys that.) Many colleges have shooting teams, too. Some even offer Shooting Sports scholarships. This weekend there is another match at Ft. Benning... soooo (yawn) Saturday morning my son and I will get up at 4 am, hewill blissfully fall back asleep in the Jeep, and I will drive for 2 1/2 hours so he can place 3rd (again) behind two shooters who just happen to live in our state and just happen to shoot in the World Cup, and be on the USA Jr. team. OY! They've been shooting for years and he's only been shooting precision air rifle for one year. So I remind him he's come a long way in a short amount of time!

So, in this politically incorrect day for shooting, there is still a different side to guns and kids mixing together and sometimes it doesn't have to be a terrifying thought or a sad story.