Shotguns are for wimps.

rifles should always be fired, knowing exactly where the bullet is going to go if it misses its target.

Of course you know that, and I'm sure you did your Annie Oakley responsibily. Probably a range right next to a mountain.

I told you my perceptions and gave the reasons why my perceptions are the way they are. I would only be concerned if it was a full auto gun. Any semi-auto gun would not concern me regardless of how scary looking the gun was.

The point is that people that don't know anything about guns would probably have different perceptions than mine.

I was joking. We used shotguns. You play Annie Oakley by lining everyone up side by side on the trap range. One person is designated as the shooter. He says "pull" and the clay pigeon is released. If he hits the target, then the turn is over and the next person to the right takes a turn. If he misses, then the next person to the right shoots. If that person hits the target, then the shooter is out. If he misses then the next person can shoot. If that person hits, then both of the other shooters are out. The second or third shooters can also get the other(s) out by shooting a large fragment of lightly hit target. You keep going until there is one person left. It is a blast.

The skeet and trap ranges are up Provo Canyon and you shoot off the ledge into the center of the canyon. Directly to the highway below. But the highway is about a 1/2 mile away so it doesn't matter. Of course, rifles and pistols are fired in a gravel pit off to the side.

I have one boy in Scouts. I would prefer to know beforehand if any guns are going to be fired, but, if I didn't find out about it until after, I wouldn't freak out, unless it was with leaders I don't trust (not the case now, our leaders are generally excellent).

Anything "worse" than a .22 or shotgun, I wouldn't be thrilled about (probably including a .22 pistol or similar handgun, easier to have accidents with them, in my uninformed opionion).

If there was an automatic weapon, my boy wouldn't go.

A tank, on the other hand, would be pretty cool.

Why is that?

We've shot guns with the boys for years and only this year did we finally get one of the leaders NRA certified. If there isn't one present, I believe technically it cannot be filed under a BSA tour permit and won't be covered under the troop insurance policy.

We usually just called them scout activities until the guns came out, then they magically turned into a church youth activity.

There are similar "fuzzy" requirements for rock climbing and repelling. IIRC, the church allows kids to repel, but not climb. Scouts require a leader to have gone through the Climb On Safely course. I think I'm the only adult in the history of our ward to have gone through this class, but there are probably a half dozen guys in our ward who are more qualified to run a safe climbing activity than I am. The class basically told us that if there is a chance of a rockslide or lightening storm, you might want to cancel the activity.

according to BSA, boy scouts can't shoot anything but a single-shot .22.

http://www.scouting.org/pubs/gss/gss08.html

That's bullcrap. So I guess we will be transitioning to youth activity when we shoot.

I think the .22 is best for the young guys.

I have a rule. If you aren't strong enough to hold the gun steady, you aren't allowed to shoot it.

We had a deacon that shot Farah's Kahr 9mm. The slide wouldn't return because he kept limp wristing it. He was going to shoot a 12ga but I took it away when he couldn't point it without waving up and down.

They sure make weak kids these days.

Probably a good idea to stick to rifles. Harder to accidentally point a rifle in the wrong direction.

It costs at least $250 to become NRA certified.

http://www.nrahq.org/education/train...ate=TX&Type=IT

That is bullcrap. Get them a Desert Eagle. See if they can hold that up.