The Junior Shooters’ Managing Editor speaks with ABC radio

ABC Wide Bay (Bundaberg), Mornings, 11/06/2008 9:06am

David Dowsett: A division of the Sporting Shooters’ Association of Australia has published The Junior Shooter. The junior shooting magazine to their parent magazine Australia Shooter has resulted in a fair amount of anger from those representing the anti-gun lobby. While the Sporting Shooters’ Association says that shooting and hunting are challenging, exciting and also safe disciplines with a wide variety of competitions, the anti-gun voices say teaching a child to shoot is teaching a child to kill. Well, with me now to discuss this new magazine is Tim Bannister from the Sporting Shooters’ Association. Tim, before we go any further, what sort of surprises me is that there would be that many junior shooters out there to make a magazine such as this go around.

Tim Bannister: Well, it [The Junior Shooter] has two roles. One is to give something to the juniors we currently have in Australia, which in our association is around 5000 youngsters. We’re only one association, but we are the main one in Australia. And the second reason, of course, is to try and encourage new shooters. We want to start creating the Olympians of tomorrow, today.

David Dowsett: But which age group would this be targeted at?

Tim Bannister: In Queensland, for instance, one must be at least 11 years old to take part in shooting. So we would imagine 11 to 18.

David Dowsett: Is it a sign, maybe, then that shooting is not attracting many people these days, that you’re having to sort of go to the youngsters?

Tim Bannister: No. I think in any sport that’s where you start. That’s not unusual. The Glenn McGraths and the Michael Diamonds, Olympian clay target shooter for instance, started at that age. We just need to make sure that we provide the medium for people to be interested in this. If we don’t do it, I don’t think anybody else will.

David Dowsett: Has it received some criticism from the anti-gun lobby?

Tim Bannister: Strangely enough, no. Whether they’re not aware of it, we don’t know. We are teaching people how to be able to go hunting. How to be safe with their firearms and the hunter’s code of ethics. And then to utilise what they’ve taken properly, to put it on the table and make dinner out of it, which really isn’t that different from fishing.

David Dowsett: Except that no-one was ever killed by a fishing rod.

Tim Bannister: No. Possibly not. I don’t know. But let’s put it in the same perspective as archery as an Olympic sport. We teach people not to shoot each other. We teach people how to be safe. I think Archery Association president would say the same thing. Much like driving a car. Youths are taught how to be safe. How to do it properly. How to not end up as road fodder.

David Dowsett: Anti-gun lobbyists have, in the past, made comments such as teaching a child to shoot is teaching a child to kill. What’s your response to that?

Tim Bannister: Well, we’re not teaching militias. We’re teaching people sport and really, I can’t think of a better way to steer adolescents away from drugs, alcohol, violence than giving them the means to enjoy the discipline and concentration of shooting as a sport.

David Dowsett: What is the legal shooting age for recreational shooting?

Tim Bannister: I believe it’s different in each state, but Queensland for instance, I think 11 years old.

David Dowsett: Right.

Tim Bannister: It doesn’t mean you can own a firearm necessarily. You may well be required to be supervised by a licensed adult at all times. And, of course, in Australia you are required to have a genuine reason to shoot, you can’t just - in regard to the comments by the anti-gun lobby - go into KMart or anything like that and buy a gun and take pot shots at signs. You must have a reason to have that firearm in your possession and that may be hunting, that may be recreational shooting. So it’s fairly well legislated and we’re not trying to create a frenzy out of this. But we are trying to serve the youth in our association. We have over 120,000 members Australia wide. We produce more magazines a month than the fated Bulletin magazine. Now many people won’t know that, but if you changed the name of The Junior Shooter to The Junior Fisherman, again you won’t have the same sort of reaction.

David Dowsett: What sort of things are in the magazine?

Tim Bannister: The first aspect is of introducing youth into the legalities of shooting, because there is an awful lot of myths about it. We tell people where they can go to find out the laws, the regulations. We teach them the Ten Commandments of Safety, The Hunter’s Code. We at the SSAA run about 18 different types of shooting competitions at the club level, the state level, national and international. We tell them how to get involved in that. We have generous junior subsidies to get them involved in the club. In the magazine you’ll find etiquettes of hunting and that’s often the etiquette such as make sure the gate is as you found it.

David Dowsett: Yeah.

Tim Bannister: Typical youth, scout-like aspects.

David Dowsett: I know that in the inaugural edition it contained the Ten Commandments of Safety. Was that to quieten anyone from the anti-gun lobby?

Tim Bannister: No, no. We certainly don’t do anything to quieten or appease anybody who thinks other than what we think. We do it because we believe it’s good for our association. We didn’t publish 100,000 of these magazines to quieten the anti-gun lobby. We did it to promote our sport and our recreation.

David Dowsett: Just finally, the Beijing Olympics, of course, not too far away. How do you think we’ll fare there?

Tim Bannister: Traditionally we’ve won a couple of gold medals. Michael Diamond is doing very well. Russell Mark, one of our writers actually, he is fancied to do very well. Lalita Yauhleuskaya, top international handgun shooter, everyone’s looking out for her. So I think we’ll do well. Traditionally, shooting brings in the first gold medal of the Olympics, so we’re waiting with baited breath.

David Dowsett: Will probably inspire some young shooters as well won’t it?

Tim Bannister: I think so.

David Dowsett: Tim Bannister thanks very much.

Tim Bannister: Thank you.

David Dowsett: Tim Bannister, from the Sporting Shooters’ Association.