From AL.com:

Harry Hobbs at Columbia High School said he’s heard concern about the school’s new shooting range for student cadets in the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps.

But don’t worry, said Hobbs, a retired Army chief warrant officer and the school’s JROTC chief. Safety is paramount at school shooting ranges, he said.

…

First, to dispel one possible fear, local JROTC programs use single-shot, .177-caliber air rifles, not high-powered rifles. Students use flat-headed pellets, not bullets.

Linda Haynes of the North Alabama Peace Network isn’t convinced school ranges are safe.

“We need to be teaching conflict resolution skills rather than teaching (students) a violent skill, giving them something to commit violence,” Haynes said.

For Haynes, whose group campaigns against war and violence, it’s the idea of teens using guns that’s bothersome. “I’m floored that they’re doing that at that age.”

I wish the school officials would have the stones to just tell Ms. Haynes and her ilk to take a long walk off a short pier. I’d bet a box of doughnuts that she is one of those people who would vote to ban Marines from the area, protest veterans talking to kids, or just look like a general Code Pink idiot.

First of all, how ignorant is she that teenagers might use guns? THIS IS ALABAMA! Many young hunters have made their first kill by the time they get to high school.

Really, the kids are learning conflict resolution. Some of them might join the armed forces one day, refine the skills they learn at Columbia, and resolve a military conflict by killing some bad guys.

I was in JROTC at my high school and was friends with everyone on our rifle team. It was a great extra curricular activity for them and they all took safety (as well as success) very seriously.

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This entry was posted by Brian on Monday, April 7th, 2008 at 8:53 am and is filed under Education, Firearms, Huntsville. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Please note the copyright policy.