If you knew sixty million other people were participating in “your” sport, would you feel self-conscious about sharing your experiences with them?
Would it help bring you out of your shell if you knew your sport was among the fastest-growing high school sports?
That’s (roughly) how many people are participating in shooting sports today.
And shooting sports really are among the fastest-growing high school sports.
But you don’t hear much about the millions who enjoy firearms responsibly.
That would qualify shooting sports as what we once categorized as an “underreported story” in the media.
In the old days when we reported solely based on facts, we’d jump on underreported stories and work to “make them our stories.”
And not only because we recognized a good story -although that was our primary driver.
Our bosses loved for us to find those “underserved/unreported” stories because they say them as outreach opportunities. If you found a group whose news wasn’t being reported, you made an effort to let them know you wanted to report their news.
Today, recreational shooting, whether plinking, competing or hunting, is decidedly an underreported story.
The vast majority of what we see, read or hear about guns isn’t meant to report fairly on gun owners, it’s intended to demonize them.
Consequently, the industry is facing a growing realization that unless we tell our own stories, they’re not going to get told.
We -shooters- aren’t any different from golfers, tennis players, bikers, hikers, canoeists, anglers or campers. In fact, many of us are those, too. But introducing someone to shooting sports isn’t as simple as asking someone to join you for a tennis volley or shoot some hoops in our driveway.
Many of us, however, lack a way to introduce our non-shooting friends to shooting sports in a safe, responsible way.
That’s the reasoning behind Shoot United. It’s a movement begun by Winchester that’s intended to be a resource for shooters. It’s also an outreach tool to millions of people who have never been introduced to firearms ownership-and a way to involve those people who may have bought a gun recently, but don’t know where to go from there.
Shoot United represents a collection of resources and events where people can learn, build up their confidence, and then find ways to participate.
Their web resources can help you find a place to shoot, but it’s also meant to be shared.
While writing this piece, I was looking through the Shoot United website. I decided to see if “my range” (On Target) was on the places to shoot list. It was. Bit I also discovered a clay target shooting association range only a few minutes from my house. My sporting clay shotgun hasn’t been out of its case in more than a year, primarily because I’ve been reluctant to drive more than an hour to a sporting clay range on the “far side” of Nashville.
FYI, I plan on visiting the sporting clay association when I’m back in town. Like most hobbies, clay shooting is more fun with friends. Like golf, there’s no better way to get to know people than to shoot a round of clays with them.
That’s the goal, I’m told, of Shoot United. To bring people with a common interest together in a way that fosters friendship As Winchester Ammunition president Brent Flaugher has said of Shoot United, “we want to bring shooting and responsible ownership to as wide a variety of people as possible from all walks of life.”
To that end, he says “we’re committed to positive messages- beyond our core audience- and welcoming new people in.”
And the commitment has extended to a series of events at ranges across the country. One, held at The Modern Sportsman (Burnsville, Minnesota) focused on handguns. Another, at Hyatt Farms Shooting Complex outside Charlotte, North Carolina covered rifle, pistol and shotgun shooting. They all featured certified instructors, pro shooters and the all-important hands-on experience that we all know is the addictive (some call it empowering) experience of sending a round downrange into a target.
If you’re a member or range owner, you can still host one-or more- Shoot United events. Drop them an email (media@shootunited.com) and let the folks at Shoot United know you’re interested.
One way to preserve “our sport” is to involve even more people in it.
As always, we’ll keep you posted.
— Jim Shepherd