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| U.S. shooter Kim Rhode competes in the women's Skeet final at Olympic Shooting Park in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Friday, Aug. 12, 2016. Rhode won a bronze medal in the event. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS) (Robert Gauthier) |
UMass representatives say the university is exploring a more broad-based program, but some gun owners see an ideological intent.
"It's absolute social bias against gun owners," said Jim Wallace, executive director of Gun Owners' Action League, a Massachusetts gun rights advocacy group. "You're being handed a successful program that's been vetted nationwide, and then handed the funding for the program. What's the problem?"
Currently, every state except Massachusetts and Rhode Island has a shooting sports program as part of its 4-H. The national 4-H organization runs hands-on educational programming in areas like agriculture and science. The shooting sports program teaches kids how to shoot firearms, but also teaches them about safety and responsibility when it comes to shooting, hunting and archery.
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Ed Blaguszewski, a spokesman for UMass Amherst, said the university studied the shooting sports proposal made by the Massachusetts 4-H Foundation and examined the variety of different 4-H shooting programs around the country.
"Rather than focus limited resources on shooting sports only, the university is actively exploring development of a more broadly based program that includes instruction in hunting, fishing and conservation as part of our youth development activities," Blaguszewski said. "The hunting aspect of the program would include the basics of gun safety and the shooting sports."
The push for the shooting sports program began about two years ago, with the advocacy of Mandy Deveno, a 4-H volunteer club leader and licensed shooting instructor from Bellingham, Massachusetts.
Deveno begin shooting trap with her father at a young age. Now, her daughter is becoming interested in archery and her son in rifle shooting. Deveno is originally from Wisconsin, and she talked to the directors of 4-H shooting sports programs in Wisconsin and Illinois. "Bringing the shooting sports program into 4-H would offer an activity that we find that youth are really engaged in," Deveno said.
Deveno said after Illinois created a shooting sports program, membership in the program grew by 25 percent over four years. She predicted that bringing the program to Massachusetts could grow 4-H membership by 11 or 12 percent, particularly among teenagers, who often lose interest in extracurricular activities.
Laurie Flanagan, executive director of the Massachusetts 4-H Foundation, said Deveno broached the idea, and the foundation supported Deveno's request.
The Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife was willing to pay $60,000 a year for three years to cover a shooting sports coordinator and training at UMass.
Peter Lorenz, a spokesman for the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, said the state agency was approached by 4-H leadership in the spring of 2016 and asked to become a partner in the shooting sports program, which would be conducted by UMass Extension. If the program were implemented, the agency agreed to provide $180,000 over three years through the Inland Fish and Game Fund, which raises money from the sale of hunting, fishing and trapping licenses by hunters, anglers and trappers.
But UMass rejected the idea.
When Deveno asked why, Steve Goodwin, dean of the College of Natural Sciences at UMass Amherst, emailed Deveno that the university was interested in a broader program. "We are working hard to conceptualize a program that would encompass fishing, hunting and environmental conservation," he wrote in the email, a copy of which was provided to The Republican / MassLive. "We believe that such a program would fit well with the mission of the College of Natural Sciences and the University of Massachusetts."
But Wallace said he does not understand the reasoning. "It doesn't make any sense to us," Wallace said. "We have a nationally recognized program in 48 other states, apparently the funding was all set for the first three years, we had a volunteer that was about to take it on and help 4-H launch this program. ... We're trying to figure out why UMass would say no to education, when this is what it's all about." Source:
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