Instructing Boys How To Shoot.
Not very long ago it was generally commented upon that the use of firearms among women was becoming more general. Today it is equally apparent that children are becoming versed in the use of guns, rifles and pistols at far tenderer years than in the olden days, not excepting the times of our Puritan Fathers. A leading manufacturer of firearms of all descriptions remarked recently that the orders for weapons for children placed by their parents had reached aach proportions of late years that this department in his establishment had already grown to one of great importance.
This is largely due to the long casualty lists arising from the careless handling of weapons by children. In this age of progression parents have taken a more practical view of the matter, and in consequence regular instructors are employed to instruct boy and girls in their use. Ride ranges are now as popular as a place of rendezvous for young America as the dancing school used to be. One or two afternoons each week groups of little boys, some accompanied by some older person, gather on the range to indulge in target practice. First the child is given an unloaded rifle, fowling piece or pistol to handle and he is thoroughly instructed as to the manner in which it should be held, loaded, carried and unloaded and finally in discharging it.
The innovation, while popular, fails to appeal to the more careful parents, however, who still cling to the belief that a firearm of any description is out of place in a child's hands.
This is largely due to the long casualty lists arising from the careless handling of weapons by children. In this age of progression parents have taken a more practical view of the matter, and in consequence regular instructors are employed to instruct boy and girls in their use. Ride ranges are now as popular as a place of rendezvous for young America as the dancing school used to be. One or two afternoons each week groups of little boys, some accompanied by some older person, gather on the range to indulge in target practice. First the child is given an unloaded rifle, fowling piece or pistol to handle and he is thoroughly instructed as to the manner in which it should be held, loaded, carried and unloaded and finally in discharging it.
The innovation, while popular, fails to appeal to the more careful parents, however, who still cling to the belief that a firearm of any description is out of place in a child's hands.
[Arizona Republican, Phoenix, Arizona, Tuesday Morning, January 21, 1908. Eighteenth Year. Vol. XVIII. No 253 Pg. 7]
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