August – A Month for Shooting Sports

For some, the month of August represents the “dog days of summer” when the doldrums take effect, and the landscape starts to turn that golden look as the heat hangs heavy and the sun begins its slow angle creep toward the fall. And with the last vacations being taken and the county fairs in full swing, August is a great month for outdoor activities – which is why August also happens to be recognized as National Shooting Sports Month.

For a decade now, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) has appropriately designated a full month to acknowledge the importance of shooting sports to America. While firearms are central to America’s history, security, and self-defense, they also constitute a key part of our nation’s recreational and outdoor way of life.

Some may be loath to admit it, but Americans have loved recreational shooting since before our founding. Whether venturing out in the fields and forests on a hunt, spending afternoons blasting clays, or target shooting with pistols, rifles, or air-guns, shooting sports are deeply embedded in our national and cultural DNA.

Some of the most famous Americans were prolific shooting sports enthusiasts. General George S. Patton represented our country in the first Modern Pentathlon at the 1912 Summer Olympics and maintained a lifelong appreciation of firearms. Gary Cooper and Clark Gable were dedicated hunters and gun collectors. Robert Stack was an accomplished champion on the trap range. Annie Oakley became a household name as a crack shot in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.

U.S. Marine fighter ace and beloved South Dakota Governor Joe Foss was also a passionate outdoorsman, defender of the Second Amendment, and President of the NRA. Eleanor Roosevelt regularly practiced pistol shooting (and carried a revolver for protection), while President John F. Kennedy was a serious gun aficionado who participated in recreational shooting on a regular basis. President Eisenhower was a skilled wing-shooter who had a skeet and trap range installed at Camp David.

And of course, there is Theodore Roosevelt – perhaps the most important public advocate for everything from gun ownership, shooting sports, outdoor recreation, hunting, wildlife preservation, conservation, and exploration of the natural world. Teddy’s transformation from an urban, indoor, sickly kid into a vigorous, energetic, and rugged man of action contains a lesson we could all learn something from.

The fact that NSSF has worked to highlight America’s recreational shooting heritage is important for several reasons.

First, the firearms and related outdoor recreation industry is a key part of our economy, generating billions of dollars, boosting local businesses, stimulating entrepreneurship and manufacturing, and helping to return revenue back to support wildlife habitat and conservation programs. How many people find rewarding employment at outdoor stores like Cabela’s? How many small-town restaurants survive on tourist dollars during pheasant season in South Dakota or deer season in Michigan?

Second, shooting sports often serve as the gateway to greater appreciation for all things outdoors. For many, a love of the outdoors and all that can be done in it – from canoeing and camping to fishing, hiking and scouting – started with a trip to the gun range. How many Americans who were introduced to trap-shooting went on to become dedicated waterfowlers? And how many then became bird-watchers, observing, studying and appreciating fowl all year round? How many deer hunters who started using a firearm graduated to a bow, maybe even participating in traditional archery with a recurve setup? The examples are virtually endless, but the main point is that millions of Americans who started out plinking tin cans and paper targets in the backyard have gone on to pursue a comprehensive and robust life outside.

Additionally, shooting sports are increasingly important to consider from a public health perspective – and in particular, the health of America’s youth. How many kids would benefit from a positive and mentor-supervised introduction to target shooting, learning to handle firearms responsibly from a young age while acquiring a skill that involves concentration, focus, patience, and practice? Not only would accomplishment in shooting sports be something they would carry proudly, but a disciplined respect for firearms learned through shooting sports would help foster greater respect for the Second Amendment and its place in our culture and heritage.

Moreover, greater participation in shooting sports would help reduce obesity, diabetes, and other problems stemming from an increasingly sedentary and lethargic existence. Imagine how these activities would help facilitate real connections with real people while reducing addiction or isolation anxiety and building confidence, understanding, and self-worth.

It goes without saying that in a country where upwards of one third of the population owns a firearm (the real number is probably higher), shooting sports should be seen as a meaningful thread in the fabric of the nation.

Unfortunately, there are powerful forces in our country that work very hard to marginalize and discredit anything involving firearms and to paint gun owners as a bunch of atavistic boors. The more people we can introduce to shooting sports, the more we can encourage citizens to enjoy time outdoors. The more we can do to restore interest in traditional pastimes like hunting and fishing, the better off we all will be.

As Americans, we are extraordinarily lucky to live in a nation where we have a protected freedom to own and use firearms for safe, legal, practical, everyday purposes – including sometimes for fun (with diligence and responsibility, of course). We are also extremely lucky to have a vast abundance of outdoor and recreational opportunities right at hand in this grand and beautiful country.

Happy National Shooting Sports Month!