Posted on 01/16/2006 7:20:50 AM PST by oxcart
PHOENIX The Arizona Board of Regents has agreed, at least temporarily, to allow a 4-H shooting program to continue around the state.
The Board oversees the University of Arizona-sponsored 4-H. It decided to end the long-time Shooting Sports Program after an audit alerted board members to its existence.
The program was shut down for three days last month until outraged parents and participants persuaded the board to bring it back.
The program teaches marksmanship and responsible firearm use of 22-caliber rifles, air pistols, air rifles, archery, shot guns and muzzle-loading arms. No live ammunition is used.
Regents spokeswoman Anne Barton says the board wasn't comfortable with the university being responsible for the guns. While the participants or clubs use and maintain their own guns, the U-of-A would be legally responsible if there were any accident or incident related to the guns.
The future of the 4-H program remains uncertain in Arizona.
___
Information from: The Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.com
No live ammunition is used????
I saw that. How the heck can you have marksmanship training without live ammo?
Maybe they meant "live targets?"
I saw that, too. Somebody's not telling the truth, either the person interviewed for the article or the reporter has decided to put that in there to mollify the hoplophobes.
The AZ Friends of NRA State Fund Committee awards grants to the 4-H shooting program every year...and those grant requests include ammunition.
Now, perhaps, the proper statement in the article should be that no funds from the state treasury are used to purchase live ammunition...
They point the guns at the targets, pull the triggers and say "Bang!"
The competitions are really a riot! "I got all bulls-eyes!"
"So! I got all double-bulls-eyes."
We used live ammo in Kentucky 4-H Shooting Sports.
Hoplophobes, huh. They're everywhere. A local sportsman club came into some land for a clubhouse and shooting range. They have to jump through the various hoops regarding zoning and whatnot. At a county meeting, one of the board said something like, "But shooting isn't a sport."
"It's in the Olympics," was the rejoinder.
So I guess it's a combination of fear and ignorance.
Man, (especially on MLK day) I thought we conquered fear and ignorance 40 years ago! /sarc
At one time, my son attended this program. Of course, live ammunition was used at the Ben Avery Shooting range. All of the 4H personnel had to have NRA range management training. All of the kids get strict gun safety training first, and discipline is strictly enforced (as it should be) while on the range. It is a great program and as 4H is closely affilitated with Arizona State University, I find it odd that they claim they discovered the program during an audit.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.