Recently, the Sporting Shooters’ Association of Australia (SSAA) Inc released its inaugural edition of The Junior Shooter, a supplement to the Association’s parent magazine, Australian Shooter.
The Junior Shooter is designed to introduce young people of legal shooting age to the sport of safe recreational shooting and ethical hunting. The 20-page supplement contains information on the Ten Commandments of Safety, the Hunter’s Code and rules of etiquette when hunting.
The SSAA realises that there will be some media commentators, politicians and members of the community who will cry foul over the release of The Junior Shooter. However, in the lead up to the Beijing Olympics and our expected medal haul from its shooting events, it must be considered how these athletes became so skilled at their sport. The reality is, they started young and honed their skills.
And to those who say it is wrong to teach the young how to hunt and make use of the prey for the dinner table, we would ask why such beliefs are not imposed on those who fish.
Each Federal Parliamentarian has been sent a copy of The Junior Shooter with an explanatory letter.
Sports shooting and hunting are challenging, exciting and safe disciplines with a wide variety of competitions. The SSAA has more than 110,000 members Australia wide and competes both at the domestic and international level.