Gun club members defend their sport
Advocates say students taught discipline, skills
DAHLONEGA, Ga. — Their classmates took to the streets to protest gun violence and to implore adults to restrict guns, seeming to forecast a generational shift in attitudes toward the Second Amendment. But at high school and college gun ranges around the country, these teens and young adults gather to practice shooting and talk about the positive influence firearms have had on their lives.
What do they say they learn? Patience. Discipline. Responsibility.
“I’ve never gone out onto a range and not learned something new,” said Lydia Odlin, a 21-year-old member of the Georgia Southern University rifle team.
There are an estimated 5,000 teams at high schools and universities around the country, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, and their popularity hasn’t waned.
The clubs use a variety of firearms — from air rifles that shoot pellets to 9 mm pistols that fire bullets. Some have hopes of representing the U.S. in the Olympics. Some simply love the camaraderie and mental focus required.
On a recent weekend, close to a dozen high school and college gun team members gathered at the University of North Georgia in Dahlonega to work with JP O’connor, a coach affiliated with USA Shooting, the Olympic organization. For the first hour he only talks — not about techniques or scores, but about mental strategy.
Many of the students came with their parents. All of them say they have no qualms about putting a firearm in the hands of kids, many of whom are too young to drive a car, vote or buy alcohol.
“So many people have assumed — and I picked that word on purpose — that guns are bad,” O’connor told The Associated Press. “I’m teaching kids life skills. And I’m teaching them about a topic that is very contentious … and when we educate people about something and they’re not ignorant about it, then we’re actually safer.”
icrocosm of the country’s divisions over guns. In the northern, more rural parts of the state, hunting is more prevalent. But in the southern, more-populated part, she said, she wasn’t even allowed to wear her rifle team’s T-shirt in high school.