Boy Scouts shoot it up at Walker event

Tuesday, October 21, 2003

Rural Walker was awash with the continual rattle of gunfire last Saturday. No, it wasn't the start of deer season or the reenactment of a Bushwhacker skirmish. It was the Boy Scouts of Troop 265 having a shooting campout. "It's a great day," beamed Scoutmaster Ed Harris. At the edge of a field of corn, slightly below their clusters of tents, the young scouts practiced shooting skeet in the morning and rifles later that afternoon. They were expecting to use around five thousand rounds of ammunition. Scout leaders figure around 50 to 100 rounds per scout. "For a lot of these kids this is the first time they have even handled a gun," said Scout Dad Tom Prewitt. Prewitt reported that some of the scouts turn out to be surprisingly good shots, but that is not the norm. "If it's the first time they are shooting we don't set the bar to high," he said. Safety was the name of the game on Saturday. Everyone wore ear plugs and eye protection and the younger scouts were only given one shell at a time. "Gun safety is always the main thing," said Harris. He feels that it is important to teach the scouts about guns in a controlled setting where they can learn the punch that firearms possess, when kids respect guns then there is less chance of accidents happening. The shooting camp is just one of many that the scouts participate in. "We go camp at least once a month, it doesn't matter the weather," said Prewitt. By keeping the boys active and interested they hope to nurture fun. "The more fun it is the more will come," said Harris.

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