Shooting Becomes a High School Sport
Aria Miller
Aria Miller
As protestors and organizations across the U.S. fight for stricter gun laws, high schools across America are thinking the opposite. In 2015, 9,245 students from 317 schools participated in the “USA High School Clay Target League” which is a national championship where different schools shoot to compete against one another.
Since then participation in, what they call, “trap-shooting” has increased by 137%. Many teams are held afloat by the large amounts of money they receive from the National Rifle Association (NRA). The last public tax records from the NRA, in the years 2014 through 2016, revealed that they gave schools four million in cash and equipment grants. Many say it is a scheme to gain a bigger political influence within present and future voters.
Carly Logan, a high school student, said, “[It is shocking because] I never knew it was a thing. I’ve always heard about the use of guns in JROTC sometimes but never as an independent sport on it’s own.”
Nikolas Cruz, the shooter who was charged with killing 17 students and staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, was a member of his school’s rifle team. To this Logan commented, “That’s definitely alarming and a little bit terrifying. You can’t monitor every single thing a student or coach does on these teams, so what if they’re accidentally training the next school shooter?”
Another high school student, Braden Radford, said, “Maybe [it got more popular] because recreational shooting is a common hobby in the areas where it’s happening. I don’t think it [will provoke more gun violence] because they don’t shoot living things or human targets. I don’t see a problem with the sport, and I think it’s cool.”
A coach from East Ridge High School in Tennessee, Barry Thompson, blatantly said, “I’m upfront with the parents. I am out here with an ulterior motive. These kids will be voting.”
To this comment, high school student, Claire Cope, said, “I mean he’s biased, but he said he’s honest. He isn’t hiding anything, so if the school thought it was a bad idea they could take his coaching job away. He’s the coach so he chooses what values he wants to teach.”
Cope continued to comment, “There should always be adult supervision, they should practice in open fields, and the guns should be given a secure holding place while not being used. I’m for guns as long as they aren’t in the wrong hands.”
It is labeled as the fastest growing high school sport, but it may be stopped soon. The increase in school shootings in America has alarmed both parents and students. Many have voiced their opinion to say it makes them feel unsafe when their peers have access to guns on school property. The debate will continue as it adds another layer of depth to the controversy over gun control.
Since then participation in, what they call, “trap-shooting” has increased by 137%. Many teams are held afloat by the large amounts of money they receive from the National Rifle Association (NRA). The last public tax records from the NRA, in the years 2014 through 2016, revealed that they gave schools four million in cash and equipment grants. Many say it is a scheme to gain a bigger political influence within present and future voters.
Carly Logan, a high school student, said, “[It is shocking because] I never knew it was a thing. I’ve always heard about the use of guns in JROTC sometimes but never as an independent sport on it’s own.”
Nikolas Cruz, the shooter who was charged with killing 17 students and staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, was a member of his school’s rifle team. To this Logan commented, “That’s definitely alarming and a little bit terrifying. You can’t monitor every single thing a student or coach does on these teams, so what if they’re accidentally training the next school shooter?”
Another high school student, Braden Radford, said, “Maybe [it got more popular] because recreational shooting is a common hobby in the areas where it’s happening. I don’t think it [will provoke more gun violence] because they don’t shoot living things or human targets. I don’t see a problem with the sport, and I think it’s cool.”
A coach from East Ridge High School in Tennessee, Barry Thompson, blatantly said, “I’m upfront with the parents. I am out here with an ulterior motive. These kids will be voting.”
To this comment, high school student, Claire Cope, said, “I mean he’s biased, but he said he’s honest. He isn’t hiding anything, so if the school thought it was a bad idea they could take his coaching job away. He’s the coach so he chooses what values he wants to teach.”
Cope continued to comment, “There should always be adult supervision, they should practice in open fields, and the guns should be given a secure holding place while not being used. I’m for guns as long as they aren’t in the wrong hands.”
It is labeled as the fastest growing high school sport, but it may be stopped soon. The increase in school shootings in America has alarmed both parents and students. Many have voiced their opinion to say it makes them feel unsafe when their peers have access to guns on school property. The debate will continue as it adds another layer of depth to the controversy over gun control.
