State board to step in after UMass scraps kids’ shooting program
The Massachusetts Fisheries and Wildlife Board is moving forward with its own program to teach shooting sports to children after the University of Massachusetts Amherst scrapped a planned program through the 4-H.
“It’s not about guns, it’s about kids and safety and responsible use of firearms,” said Jack Buckley, the board’s director. “I think it could save a kid’s life, I think that’s an obligation we all have.”
Buckley said the Fisheries and Wildlife Board came up with $60,000 per year over three years to fund the UMass program, which mirrored similar programs in 48 other states. The board will begin planning its own program and hiring staff over the next couple of months, and hopes to have a shooting program in place within six months to a year, Buckley said, noting the need to start from scratch after the “prepackaged” UMass/4-H plan was abandoned.
“Rather than focus limited resources on shooting sports only, the university is actively exploring development of a more broadly based program that includes instruction in hunting, fishing and conservation as part of our youth development activities,” UMass Amherst spokesman Ed Blaguszewski said in a statement.
Jim Wallace, director of the Gun Owners’ Action League, said GOAL hopes to partner with Fisheries and Wildlife and provide much of the infrastructure for the program, including training recourses, access to shooting ranges, classrooms and clubhouses.
“There is always hope the 4-H program will eventually be launched, but it seems the social bias pushback from UMass is not going to stop,” Wallace told the Herald. “So we will sit down with Fisheries and Wildlife and figure out how we are going to put together some kind of program and move it forward.”
Wallace said his daughter, now 26, would watch him clean his gun after a hunting trip and learned to respect firearms from a young age.
“The worst thing you can do to a child is to lock something away and tell them ‘no’ and don’t tell them why,” he said. “Firearms are a part of our society, it’s like everything else we educate our children on. Do we teach them about kitchen knife safety, or not to drink drain cleaner? Of course we do.”