It won't be long and spring type weather will be here. If any of you people have access to private gun ranges you should be thinking of setting up some shoots to teach young people, women and all non-shooters about the sport. The only way we can keep the shooting sports alive and passed down from generation to generation is by getting new shooters involved in the sport.

Not only does it beget new shooters, but once they experience the fun it is, we also gain new members for the ISRA. Also we gain more people to call and write our Representatives. Boy Scout troops are a good place to start. I am a range officer at Bristol ranges and there was a fellow that brought a group of boy scouts up every year to have me guide them through the process. There is nothing more exhilarating then to see someone get so happy over breaking some clay birds. Believe me if someone doesn't invite them, they probably would never go. Youth groups at churches are another source for new shooters. People don't want to invest in guns and ammo unless they really like it. That's where you come in. When you provide the guns etc. they will gladly come out to try it. Not everyone will turn out to be a gun enthusiast, but I guarantee you will gain some every time you do it. When you set up a shoot, invite the parents to come along too. Before you know it the whole family is enjoying an outing they never would have planned on their own.

Young kids hear plenty of the anti-gun rhetoric in school and from their friends. What they need is to hear and experience the other side of that story so they can make up their own mind about it. Then in turn they start telling their friends that all that gobbledygook you hear about guns isn't true and we need soldiers like that in the field, counteracting the espionage lies they hear.

If any of you have the place and opportunity to do this, believe me you will never have so much fun teaching others about shooting! Don't let another summer pass by without giving it a try.

Plan one early in May when it is warm, because I know you will want to plan more and you have the rest of the summer to keep doing it. Ask for volunteers. There are shooters biting at the bit to help you. The ball is in your court. Go out there and shoot a few hoops for us that may not be able to do this and yet want to so badly.