Legionnaire
Contributing Member
This from today's WSJ Online:
Empire State Gun Games
Eliminating the shooting sports could backfire for New York City.
BY BRENDAN MINITER
Tuesday, June 17, 2003 12:01 a.m. EDT
A few years ago Thrine Kane was the star of New York's Empire State Games. She won the junior air rifle competition and was made the 1998 Athlete of the Year in New York. The Long Islander then went on to place second in the 2000 Olympic trials--earning a spot to compete in Sydney, Australia.
This year her event along with all shooting sports, water polo, fencing and open field hockey was cut from the Empire State Games. So next month, for the first time since the games started in 1978, competitive shooters will not be welcome--although shooting associations will host their own competition in Broome County to coincide with the games in Buffalo.
The official reason why shooting sports and other events were cut this year is financial--they all draw few spectators and a relatively small number of competitors. State officials argue that in a year of tight budgets some events had to go. The games cost about $3.4 million to put on and the state picks up a third of the cost--the rest is paid for by sponsors and advertisers. And this year, officials needed to cut $200,000.
Shooters and other shooting enthusiasts are skeptical, however. The games more than pay for themselves--even with low-performing events. Recent games have pumped as much as $10 million into local economies. Through sales taxes alone, the state and local governments can rake in $800,000 or more in revenue.
The games are run by predominately urban and suburban administrators who've been talking about eliminating the shooting sports for years. And for decades antigunners have forced shooting ranges to comply with expensive environmental regulations to remove lead bullets from the backstops behind their targets as well as to install costly ventilation systems in indoor ranges. Many of the high schools that still had shooting teams were forced to disband them and close their ranges to save money. That, combined with strict gun-control regulations that bar anyone under 21 from processing a pistol, has devastated the youth competitions.
It also doesn't quell any suspicions that officials of the games have rebuffed shooting associations that want to sponsor the shooting events. State officials reportedly have said that they aren't equipped to handle donations to support the competitions but won't disclose how much those events actually cost. The Buffalo News's Mike Levy calculates the cost at about $15,000 and perhaps as much as $30,000. Last year, the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association took out $3,000 in ads to support the games. The association's President Thomas King says he'd love to do more for the games, if they would only take his money.
This may all prove costly for New York City. It's no secret that Mike Bloomberg wants the 2012 Summer Olympics to help jump-start the city's economy. The mayor's staff even asked Mr. King recently to write a letter to the Olympic Committee vouching for New York State's friendliness toward shooting sports. "That's a letter I clearly cannot write at this point," Mr. King explained in a press release recently. And it's too bad. In 2005 the Empire State Games will be held in the Hudson Valley, an easy drive from New York City. If shooters were allowed in, New York's games could be an advertisement for how well New Yorkers treat gun-toting competitors.
Mr. Miniter is assistant editor of OpinionJournal.com. His column appears Tuesdays.
Empire State Gun Games
Eliminating the shooting sports could backfire for New York City.
BY BRENDAN MINITER
Tuesday, June 17, 2003 12:01 a.m. EDT
A few years ago Thrine Kane was the star of New York's Empire State Games. She won the junior air rifle competition and was made the 1998 Athlete of the Year in New York. The Long Islander then went on to place second in the 2000 Olympic trials--earning a spot to compete in Sydney, Australia.
This year her event along with all shooting sports, water polo, fencing and open field hockey was cut from the Empire State Games. So next month, for the first time since the games started in 1978, competitive shooters will not be welcome--although shooting associations will host their own competition in Broome County to coincide with the games in Buffalo.
The official reason why shooting sports and other events were cut this year is financial--they all draw few spectators and a relatively small number of competitors. State officials argue that in a year of tight budgets some events had to go. The games cost about $3.4 million to put on and the state picks up a third of the cost--the rest is paid for by sponsors and advertisers. And this year, officials needed to cut $200,000.
Shooters and other shooting enthusiasts are skeptical, however. The games more than pay for themselves--even with low-performing events. Recent games have pumped as much as $10 million into local economies. Through sales taxes alone, the state and local governments can rake in $800,000 or more in revenue.
The games are run by predominately urban and suburban administrators who've been talking about eliminating the shooting sports for years. And for decades antigunners have forced shooting ranges to comply with expensive environmental regulations to remove lead bullets from the backstops behind their targets as well as to install costly ventilation systems in indoor ranges. Many of the high schools that still had shooting teams were forced to disband them and close their ranges to save money. That, combined with strict gun-control regulations that bar anyone under 21 from processing a pistol, has devastated the youth competitions.
It also doesn't quell any suspicions that officials of the games have rebuffed shooting associations that want to sponsor the shooting events. State officials reportedly have said that they aren't equipped to handle donations to support the competitions but won't disclose how much those events actually cost. The Buffalo News's Mike Levy calculates the cost at about $15,000 and perhaps as much as $30,000. Last year, the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association took out $3,000 in ads to support the games. The association's President Thomas King says he'd love to do more for the games, if they would only take his money.
This may all prove costly for New York City. It's no secret that Mike Bloomberg wants the 2012 Summer Olympics to help jump-start the city's economy. The mayor's staff even asked Mr. King recently to write a letter to the Olympic Committee vouching for New York State's friendliness toward shooting sports. "That's a letter I clearly cannot write at this point," Mr. King explained in a press release recently. And it's too bad. In 2005 the Empire State Games will be held in the Hudson Valley, an easy drive from New York City. If shooters were allowed in, New York's games could be an advertisement for how well New Yorkers treat gun-toting competitors.
Mr. Miniter is assistant editor of OpinionJournal.com. His column appears Tuesdays.
