Fox News Report - "Shooting Sports are fastest growing sport in America" (merged)

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Fox News Report - "Americans Sharpen Shooting Skills"

So, I'm cruising the High Road with Fox News on the TV in the background. I hear the lead-in from Shepard Smith about shooting sports.

I paused my perusal of the High Road :what: to listen.

The story from William LaJeunesse in Los Angeles :what: :what: stated that shooting sports were the fastest growing sports in America.

The story included some video of sporting clays and some guy checking out a handgun at a gun shop.

The best part was the "on the street" interview of people asking what they thought the fastest growing sport in America is.

The usual responses ranged from basketball to baseball to motorsports. Some dork said "ultimate frisbee". Duh.

When they were told the REAL answer, the horror! The shock! ****!

"I think guns should be on the no-no list!!"

Stupid lady, guns are for NON-panty wetters! :D

BTW, the statistics (non-referenced) reported while sports like basketball and baseball experienced single digit growth, shooting sports grew by 25% last year.

Oh yeah, they even mentioned that you are more likely to be injured riding a bicycle or playing basketball than participating in shooting sports. Well done in my opinion.

No stupid editorialization by either reporter either. Wow.

edited for grammatical errors. Sorry atek3, I can't edit the title of the thread. You'll just have to find a way to live with it... ;)
 
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I just caught that on the re-run this morning. I also thought it good that they had the one 20-ish young lady talking about what a good time sporting clays were. Very nice indeed....
 
Hmmmmm....

I missed this report. Thanx for posting it. I didn't know about the "fasted growing" thing.

Some threads here on THR talk about how to spread the word about the gov's 2A abuse. There must be some way to get fliers or something to the various centers of shooting sports. There must be a list of shooting ranges somewhere.

rr
 
Americans Sharpen Shooting Skills

Here is the article. It has a video with it.

Americans Sharpen Shooting Skills
Friday, June 18, 2004

•Shooting Sports
LOS ANGELES — Shooting for sport is becoming more and more popular across the country.

Along with Pilates and windsurfing, clay target shooting (search) and handgun target shooting (search) are some of America's fastest growing sports. Some 20 million Americans participate in recreational gun activities.

Those who shoot clays call it "golf with guns."

"It is being looked at more as a sport and recreation, it is not all about hunting," said Rick Matulich of the San Diego Shotgun Sports Association (search).

Target shooting dates back to the 14th century, and it became an Olympic sport in 1896. And while some worry about recreational gun safety, the government says a person is more likely to get hurt riding a bike, playing basketball or swimming.

"It is a great sport," said Bret Erickson (search), 2004 U.S. Olympic shotgun team member. "It is a sport for all ages; it is a sport for the whole family and it is a huge growing sport."
 
Anything that puts more guns in the hands of more citizens is a good thing.

I'll echo the thought that having them show shooting sports with EBRs (like a High Power firing line of 10-20 ARs) or 3 Gun, and also IPDA, IPSC, etc (since they did mention target pistol) would have been even better.
 
Often for something to become the "fastest growing" it has to be a little on the small side to start. I hope the trend continues.

As for where this is coming... I don't want to risk the order, but sporting clays, Cowboy Action Shooting, IDPA and IPSC (thanks to the spread of CCW laws across the country).
Those who shoot clays call it "golf with guns."
Click to expand...
Funny, that is the term, "Golfers with Guns" that I use for elite slime who think the 2nd Amendment is a sporting goods debate and who look down on guns as self defense tools and wouldn't be caught dead counter-demonstrating the Million Moron Marchers.

Rick
 
Hey, don't knock Ultimate Frisbee. One has to track and intercept a speeding disc across a field, which translates very well to bird hunting.

Besides, Ultimate grrrls are hot.

:neener:
 
If you could see my face. :what:

Maybe we actually have a chance afterall! :)

You know, if we can get the idea of what guns are all about back to what people thought of them in say 1930 or so, we'll be all set. Ban guns?? What? Never! I'd really love that.

Personally, I think that journalists are just starting to realize that while a few (very vocal) people want to ban all guns, many more people are interested in guns in one way or another. Whatever gets more people to watch, they'll report on it. It seems like they wanted to try another angle, get more viewers, etc.

Hey, however they do it, I'm for this kind of reporting!
 
This is great news. The more people in shooting sports the better. The more people who learn something about firearms from a source other than CNN and NBC, the better. The more people that learn that a firearm is only a tool and is not "evil" the better.

As far as how safe shooting sports are, none made this list where things like football, basketball and golf among the leading activities for injuries:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5133a2.htm#tab2

As far as accidental deaths, firearms do not make the top 4 or 5 and are probably not even in the top 10.
http://www.nsc.org/library/rept2000.htm#recs

I am not too surprised with the increased interest in shooting sports. Cowboy Action really has become big and I heard a rumor somewhere that is a higher than average number of females and a higher than average number of "new to firearms" participants.

Now if some of these new shooters would just show up to my next leg match... :)
 
Last I read, there are something like 16 million hunters in America. That is a pretty good start. And, the number of hunters can be measured by the number of hunting licenses issued each year.

And with something like 60-80 million gun owners, there are probably millions of plinkers out there who do not participate in formal shooting events, or require special equipment.

If those numbers are growing by 25% a year, I think that is quite awesome.
 
Fox: Americans Sharpen Shooting Skills

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,123134,00.html
Americans Sharpen Shooting Skills
Monday, June 21, 2004

LOS ANGELES — Shooting for sport is becoming more and more popular across the country.

Along with Pilates and windsurfing, clay target shooting (search) and handgun target shooting (search) are some of America's fastest growing sports. Some 20 million Americans participate in recreational gun activities.

Those who shoot clays call it "golf with guns."

"It is being looked at more as a sport and recreation, it is not all about hunting," said Rick Matulich of the San Diego Shotgun Sports Association (search).

Target shooting dates back to the 14th century, and it became an Olympic sport in 1896. And while some worry about recreational gun safety, the government says a person is more likely to get hurt riding a bike, playing basketball or swimming.

"It is a great sport," said Bret Erickson (search), 2004 U.S. Olympic shotgun team member. "It is a sport for all ages; it is a sport for the whole family and it is a huge growing sport."
Click to expand...

Shooting paper targets is just like golf, except that you have to make your own holes.

- pdmoderator
 
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