Benefits Of The Shooting Sports

SUNDAY, 28 SEPTEMBER 2008 19:00

15 Benefits Of The Shooting Sports by Jack Campbell

When it comes to making wise investments, all thinking men and women should ask
themselves (or their stock broker):

"What are the benefits of this investment?"

The following 15 statements represent just a few of the many "benefits" that can be found in
the shooting sports.

1) It is a Fun Sport. No fancy excuses or rationalization here, the shooting sports are just
plain fun. Whether shooting inside, using your BB or pellet gun, or outside plinking at cans,
target shooting, or cowboy action shooting, it is great fun. However, as important as words
are to good communication, this "fun" element of the shooting sports cannot fully be
described. It must be experienced! So, grab a friend and go the closest shooting range and
"taste and see" for yourself.

2) It is a Safe Sport. Though the instruments of this sport can be dangerous, in reality when
compared to other individual or group sporting activities (football, basketball, tennis,
swimming, driving, biking etc.) the shooting sports are quite safe.

According to the National Safety Council, Injury Facts, 1999 and a 1991 Harvard Medical
Practice Study:

You are 100 times more likely to be injured in a swimming pool than by a gun.

You are 31 times more likely to be injured riding in a car than by a gun.

You are 1,900 times more likely to be injured by an "iatrogenic" error than by a gun
("iatrogenic" error is medical speak for a doctor or hospital injuring you accidentally).

And, with the growing number of gun safety/training programs, the number of injuries are
declining and are at an all time low. This is in contrast to the fact that the number of firearm
owners in America (as a whole) is on the rise.

3) It is a Family Sport. This is a sport that almost every family member can enjoy together. It
is also a sport that boys and girls, or men and women, can participate in together. Granddad
and grandson, father and daughter, great family memories lasting a lifetime are made here.
Why not start making some of your own, now!

4) It is an Individual Sport. You can also shoot by yourself without any assistance from
anyone, if that is your desire. Here, you have time to think and enjoy solitude. Time to grow
in your marksmanship abilities at your own pace.
5) It is a Lifetime Sport. Shooting can begin early and continue through most of an adult's
normal life span. And, with the expansion of high-tech gadgets available today, many
disabled individuals can excel in some of the highest levels of competition.

6) Its Training: Builds Physical Discipline. In an age of the "couch potato," this sport can help
build many physical disciplines that are not only healthy but enjoyable. Increased strength,
stamina, hand-eye coordination, and fine motor skills are just a few of the physical
disciplines acquired in the shooting sports that apply, not only to this sport, but to all of life.

7) Its Training: Increases Mental Discipline. To the surprise of many, the shooting sports are
primarily mental sports. Experienced marksmen think sport shooting is 90% mental.
Concentration levels are sharpened and expanded. Multiple problem solving activities
involving logic, mathematics, and creative thinking (thinking "outside the box") are needed
and employed to succeed at any level of the shooting sports. This is truly a "thinking man's"
(and women's) sport.

8) Its Training: Advances Personal Responsibility. Personal responsibility is taught

throughout the shooting sports to advance both safety and skill development. The shooting
sports also cultivate personal responsibility because they are a foundation for both security
and liberty in any family or nation.

"Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it." -- George Bernard Shaw

9) Its Training: Promotes Liberty. Shooting sports provide a natural environment to educate
all citizens with an historically honest view of freedom. We need to rejuvenate the vision of
"liberty" our founding fathers saw so clearly. It is no mistake that the tools mastered in the
shooting sports have been called "the people's liberty teeth." This is one of the reasons the
2nd amendment in America's Bill of Rights was adopted.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was and never will be." -
- Thomas Jefferson (America's 3rd President)

(Note: To help you promote the founding fathers' view of "liberty" see the new documentary
"Innocents Betrayed," produced by Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. This
film proves historically, regardless of century or culture, how "official" governments use gun
control to disarm and then enslave or murder people by the millions. It will also show you
how "gun control" in America, and other countries, results in people being killed right now.)

10) Its Training: Preserves Life and Family. Contrary to popular opinion, guns save lives! The
most scholarly research in the last 10 years has shown in the U.S. alone, firearms are used
successfully 2.5 million times each year to prevent crime, or 6,849 times every day. The
shooting sports teach safe and effective use of these life-saving instruments.

11) Its Training: Assists in Crime Prevention. Because the shooting sports teach safe and
effective use of the tools proven to prevent crime, along with character building disciplines, it
provides "salt and light" influences for any society. In this way law-abiding citizens can
overcome the naturally occurring "decay and darkness" of the lawless.

12) Its Training: Assists in National Defense. Terrorism, whether it is domestic or foreign,
always decreases when law-biding citizens have the tools, abilities and mindset (i.e. will &
moral authority) to use them in order to prevent the unlawful destruction of life. The training
provided in the shooting sports sharpen both abilities and mindset.

13) Its Training: Provides Enhanced Educational Opportunities. Another little-known fact is
that the shooting sports are some of the most popular events in the Olympics. 17 Olympic
events (10 for Men and 7 for Women) in four Olympic disciplines (rifle, pistol, running target
and shotgun) were held during the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and are scheduled in the
2004 Athens Games. This is why several universities and private trusts have monies allocated
providing scholarships for young marksmen, male or female.

14) Its Training: Is Conducted in a Friendly and Helpful Environment. The people involved in
the shooting sports are some of the most helpful, honest and "salt of the earth" kind of folks
you will meet. Most are friendly people who are both able and willing to help you improve in
any aspect of this sport.

15) Its Training: Promotes the Values Needed for a Safe, Courageous and Self-sacrificing
Society. Character development is always necessary and good. The shooting sports can help
you overcome fear, grow in patience and think of others as you would have them think of you
("Golden Rule" and "Good Samaritan" character traits).

"Aggressive fighting for the right is the noblest sport the world affords." -- Theodore
Roosevelt (America's 26th President)

Note: A parent added to the above by stating: "It's affordable, you learn to overcome peer
pressure, to laugh at yourself and learn from your mistakes, you become a 'good sport', learn
how to set goals and achieve them, and you meet new people.