NH Shooting Sports

Purpose of the 4‐H Shooting Sports Project

    • To teach safety

• The development of life skills

• The firearm is a vehicle to get us to positive youth development

• We want to create champion kids — not necessarily champion marksmen

NH 4‐H Shooting Sports is a very popular project.   

    • NH has certified 451 Shooting Sports volunteers in the past 10 years

    • Families report that they value the quality and professionalism of our instructors

    • Parents tell us that they understand that it is a program of UNH Cooperative Extension

      select 4‐ H because they want their children to learn and practice the highest standards of

      and safety   

    • Reach approximately 1,500 youth annually   

    • 4‐H Shooting Sports week is always the first week to fill at Barry Conservation 4‐H Camp

Safety First*

    • Nationally, 4‐H Shooting Sports involves 306,000 youth and 15,000 volunteers and staff

      each year

    • Operating since 1980

    • More than 3 million member/years of 4‐H member contact over 32 years

    • 1980 – 2012, More than 136 billion person hour contacts

    • Only five documented injuries (none fatal or catastrophic)

    • American Income Life insures shooting sports at the same rate as regular projects (horse,

      sledding, and ATV are insured at twice the rate)

*Source: Kids and Guns, Jeff Goodwin, Co‐Chair of the 4‐H Shooting Sports

National Committee, May 2013

It is our belief that firearms education reduces gun accidents

    • Various recent national polls reported household gun ownership between 35 percent and 52

      percent

    • What is always the first and primary response to any youth risk variable? EDUCATION...why

      would it be different for firearms?

    • Over the last two decades, the number of unintentional fatalities in the US involving firearm

      has dropped by 57 percent. According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, this decline

      is attributed to a number of factors, beginning with educational efforts.

Consider This...

    • The National 4‐H Shooting Sports Committee provides leadership in the form of training,

      standards curriculum, and resources

    • Many states have full time 4‐H Shooting Sports State Specialists

    • New Hampshire follows the National 4‐H Shooting Sports Minimum

Standards & Best Management Practices for Shooting Sports Programs

    • All volunteers must successfully complete an 18-hour certification training which focuses

      on both specific subject matter and positive youth development

    • Volunteers must remain active in the project or else they will be

required to re‐certify

    • 4‐H Shooting Sports includes an instructor Code of Ethics

    • The 4‐H shooting sports program is designed to teach good self‐concept and character, and       to promote the highest standards of safety and ethical behavior

• Colorado recently published curriculum focusing specifically on the principles of STEM for 4‐H

      Shooting Sports

Characteristics of Violent Acts

    • The chances of this happening are extremely remote because of the life skills developed in the project AND these significant PROTECTIVE/ RESILIENCY FACTORS

          -Significant adult in a young person's life other than a parent

          - Positive peer groups

          -Positive family involvement

          -Research indicates that these factors are nearly completely absent in the lives of youth

           who commit acts of mass violence.

The top five things that the 4‐H Shooting Sports Program does well

    • Safety

    • Positive Youth Development

    • Life Skill Development

    • Teaching adults to teach kids

    • Teaching the first shot (to shoot the first shot—and to shoot that first shot safely)

To Learn More

Contact:

Dennis Crawford

NH 4‐H Shooting Sports Coordinator dennis.crawford@unh.edu

(603) 863-9200

Visit our website:

https://extension.unh.edu/programs/4‐h‐shooting‐sports