Recruiting new people to the sport of shooting & gun ownership

What’s being done to recruit new people to the sport of shooting and gun ownership, especially for the younger people?

Can any of you tell me what specific things/programs/resources are available today to help promote, motivation and recruit new people to the sport of shooting and gun ownership, especially for the young people?

I’m interesting in acquiring the best information to recruit young people to the sport and/or ownership.

Appreciate it, thanks!

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IDPA or any of the run and gun sports are like crack, if you can get them to go watch, then you can get them to go shoot

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Get them to take a carbine course. They are fun and you learn how to use your weapon. Shoothouses are probably my favorite. Other than that tactical or practical competitions are fun.

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The DNR hunter safety program here is awesome for kids. They go through classes for a week and after passing a test they get to go to range day where they fire everything from flintlock rifles to AR-15 and everything in between.
The NRA has marksmanship tests. You shoot a official target and send it back to them and they score it and send a little achievement award you can frame.

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The NRA foundation promotes the youth shooting sports in all fifty states by giving money to various groups.

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I encourage people to step out of their comfort zone and try it. I’ll provide the gun and ammo. Often they are hooked and buy their own gun. Then I suggest joining a league like IPA, USPSA, or IPSA, etc. There is no better training than experienced shooters and safety officers all round you while you move and shoot.

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^ Agree with every word.

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The best thing for a brand new shooter in addition to T_R’s post is to start someone off with a light recoiling cartridge and concentrate on not only teaching safety but them having fun. Be light hearted and jovial. I’ve seen plenty of people being too overbearing and stiff (no fun) to new shooters that the new shooters leave unhappy with the experience and possibly not wanting to go any further.

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Agreed, you don’t want to scare them. I have a 38 special that is perfect for starting out. If not that I have a Beretta neos .22lr

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Don’t forget a Ruger 10/22!

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A rifle is a great first gun, it’s long and easy to take control of.

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Definitely. Gotta work them up to a Mosin or Mauser. Haha.

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My friend and I went to this event last weekend. All proceeds went to a local volunteer fire department. Sadly for liability concerns no kids under 18 at the zone behind the shooters. After the event we loaded up the gear and his 3 kids went to private property to sight in his oldest daughters new rifle and scope, a 308 with a 3x9, she is 13. She also shot her first tannerite at 100yds as well as her first ar mine a 300 blackout suppressed with sub sonics rounds at steel targets 50yds out. The 2 younger ones 10 and 5 a girl and boy shot their cricket 22 single shot. It was a good time, and to see their faces when steel rang and booms happened reminded me when I took my son who’s now 20 out like that.

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I attended a ‘Friends of the NRA’ dinner on Saturday in Chattanooga. There were silent and live auctions, drawings, door prizes, etc. The best part was a local youth shooting club ran all the games. They ended up getting over $7000 that night and all their equipment donated to them for the year. The interaction between the kids and the older crowd was priceless and everyone had a good time. The best part is that the club was independent and recruited from other schools that did not have shooting teams.

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We’ve been giving NRA memberships for Christmas and Hanukkah for many years +
Most of our kids friends got a range day if their parents OK it
Many parents then came along next time, some became regulars and joined our club.
I’ll do just about anything to turn every sane person against the traitorous demoncrap anti-gun lying filth.

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It’s been my experience that to attract anyone to any activity it’s best to address those who are already interested.
Providing those self motivated people with a time and place to pursue their enthusiasm has generally resulted in the most long range success.
It seems that folks who just show curiosity to try something new rarely continue with it.
So, providing a scheduled activity and promoting it will prove to provide the best results.

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WOW!

Many wonderful suggestions and recommendations!

I am a NRA member so I’m aware of their programs.

For my own boys, I simply taught the same lessons that were passed down to me from my father.

I also was heavily involved in the Cub/Boy Scouts of America with my boys. They too do a great job in getting a youngster fired up about shooting guns.



Then when my boys were old enough and took an interest in hunting with me as teenagers, I signed them up for hunter safety course through our state DNR (Department of Nature Resources) . They had to achieve acquiring their hunting licence through lecture classes, written test and field test, which they did successfully.

I believe the DNR does an excellent job teaching gun safety & shooting rifles.

Now that my sons are older and in college, I’d like to see them get their CCW permits. As many of you know, most colleges today have a very liberal view towards guns and campus culture really doesn’t support gun ownership.

I’m very interested in counterring that effect, the indoctrination they receive at their schools today. I want to make sure their original enthusiasm remains intact.

Every hunting season, I try to take a new youngster out hunting with me and teach them about the sport along with weapon handling & safety. I take those that are less fortunate in life, for example, last season I took a young man out from Missouri that lost his father the year before. His dad was a policeman killed in the line of duty. I’m happy to report that he’s now a hunter for life because he successfully harvested his very first deer with me. I documented the entire hunt on a video camera so he can share it and relive it for the rest of his days.

I believe it’s crucial that we all do our part to educate the young and introduce guns early in their life’s for obvious reasons. I also suggest if you have the opportunity, teach someone that you have no relationship with and know, give it a shot and teach them something new in their life. As an American, I personally believe it’s one of the most important civic duty I can do in life.

Again, I appreciate all the input and I hope to see more examples, suggestions and recommendations. Hopefully others can learn something new from this thread.

Thanks everyone!

http://www.projectchildsafe.org/parents-and-gun-owners

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Amen on the 10/22. Great first shoot for kids or adults. Once comfortable it’s easy to get them to try a .22 pistol. From there they will want to move up. Always best to let them have fun first

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