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On my way home today, a radio talk show host was saying that the scouts group is thinking about adding an additional shooting badge to their existing badges. He was surveying the listeners on the air to see whether people agree with the idea or not. Some people mentioned that it should not be a big deal because it is just like joining a gun club and you will have the practice in a controlled environment anyway. Personally, I don’t think that is such a good idea at all for little scouts to participate in the sport of target shooting. I don’t have problem with taking up target shooting as a sport; however, I think age and maturity are important factors and should be the prerequisites for this sport. I am against the idea because I had the first hand experience of handling guns in my late teen years. Here is the story of my target shooting experience in my senior high school.
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When I went to senior high, all students were required to take military education credits. (I am not sure if this is still the case in Taiwan now.) I quite enjoyed taking the military training which is like the cadets training here in Canada; however, these credits were required for high school graduation. We had to wear this khaki uniform once or twice a week when we had the military classes. The typical high school military education at that time was quite primitive. We simply practiced marching and lining up a lot. I think it was really for the discipline and character development.
I somehow took these credits quite seriously because I thought military universities could be a potential option for me; especially, my high school is located right above one of the elite military universities. I really wanted to join the military right then because I strongly believed in self discipline. All my instructors also recognized my enthusiasm and leadership quality. I guess, with mutual respects, I got along just fine with all of them through out my three years in high school. I was even recommended to attend a military cadets’ summer camp one year.
I was actively involved in many activities at school. One of the clubs I attended was the target shooting club. The club was organized by one of the military instructors. When I first went to the club, we had more than 50 male and female students. By the time we were ready to train as a target shooting team, we only had about 6 girls left. Not too many people could endure the harsh physical training and prolong lifting and aiming a rifle with the weight of a brick or a sand bottle hanging at the tip of the gun. On top of that, we did not have any head gear for hearing protection. (My husband used to tease me that I must be deaf from all the target shooting practices; though I have to confess, sometimes it could be just my selective hearing. Heh, heh, heh.)
For three years in Senior High, I was trained alongside my male teammates in the target shooting team almost every day before and after school. When it got close to the competition, we had to go to the restricted base for target shooting practice with live ammunitions every week. I missed a lot of classes during those few months before each competition, but the experience was definitely worth it! The base was where I learned to respect the training process and how dangerous it could be to mishandle a gun. (I am forever pro gun control!)
I had also established longer attention span for concentration. I had to aim perfectly before I pulled the trigger because bullets were scarce and tightly controlled. Whenever I aimed at the target, I was like entering a Zen state of mind with the red dot at a distance. I also got to appreciate the peace of “quietness” between gun shots. Later I was one of the remaining three girls to attend the Taipei City-wide high school targeting shooting competition, and I did it twice during my three years in senior high. I won the gold medal for female 200M targeting shooting championship one year.
The handling of guns taught me to respect the destructive power as well as the awareness for gun control and firearm safety. The training for the competition helped me develop endurance and patience, which I did not have much before my entering the high school. If I were involved in the sport earlier before senior high, I wouldn’t have the capacity to go through the training. Anyway, this is just anther part of my Taiwan memories that I will never forget. I don’t care if the scouts group thinks that a shooting badge is really necessary for their training, I just don’t think that children should be exposed to any gun sport. I was a scout when I was in junior high. Do we really need to learn how to shoot to be a scout? I don’t think so.
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When I went to senior high, all students were required to take military education credits. (I am not sure if this is still the case in Taiwan now.) I quite enjoyed taking the military training which is like the cadets training here in Canada; however, these credits were required for high school graduation. We had to wear this khaki uniform once or twice a week when we had the military classes. The typical high school military education at that time was quite primitive. We simply practiced marching and lining up a lot. I think it was really for the discipline and character development.
I somehow took these credits quite seriously because I thought military universities could be a potential option for me; especially, my high school is located right above one of the elite military universities. I really wanted to join the military right then because I strongly believed in self discipline. All my instructors also recognized my enthusiasm and leadership quality. I guess, with mutual respects, I got along just fine with all of them through out my three years in high school. I was even recommended to attend a military cadets’ summer camp one year.
I was actively involved in many activities at school. One of the clubs I attended was the target shooting club. The club was organized by one of the military instructors. When I first went to the club, we had more than 50 male and female students. By the time we were ready to train as a target shooting team, we only had about 6 girls left. Not too many people could endure the harsh physical training and prolong lifting and aiming a rifle with the weight of a brick or a sand bottle hanging at the tip of the gun. On top of that, we did not have any head gear for hearing protection. (My husband used to tease me that I must be deaf from all the target shooting practices; though I have to confess, sometimes it could be just my selective hearing. Heh, heh, heh.)
For three years in Senior High, I was trained alongside my male teammates in the target shooting team almost every day before and after school. When it got close to the competition, we had to go to the restricted base for target shooting practice with live ammunitions every week. I missed a lot of classes during those few months before each competition, but the experience was definitely worth it! The base was where I learned to respect the training process and how dangerous it could be to mishandle a gun. (I am forever pro gun control!)
I had also established longer attention span for concentration. I had to aim perfectly before I pulled the trigger because bullets were scarce and tightly controlled. Whenever I aimed at the target, I was like entering a Zen state of mind with the red dot at a distance. I also got to appreciate the peace of “quietness” between gun shots. Later I was one of the remaining three girls to attend the Taipei City-wide high school targeting shooting competition, and I did it twice during my three years in senior high. I won the gold medal for female 200M targeting shooting championship one year.
The handling of guns taught me to respect the destructive power as well as the awareness for gun control and firearm safety. The training for the competition helped me develop endurance and patience, which I did not have much before my entering the high school. If I were involved in the sport earlier before senior high, I wouldn’t have the capacity to go through the training. Anyway, this is just anther part of my Taiwan memories that I will never forget. I don’t care if the scouts group thinks that a shooting badge is really necessary for their training, I just don’t think that children should be exposed to any gun sport. I was a scout when I was in junior high. Do we really need to learn how to shoot to be a scout? I don’t think so.
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