Cub Scout Shooting Sports and NRA

[RichardB]

Would be interested in who this forum thinks could fill the role that NRA Instructors, TC's and RSO / CRSO's provide to the shooting sports?   

[cyphertext]

FireStone,

      This has not been my experience.  I have never seen any of this type of stuff sent home with a Cub Scout.  I'll take the Ruger koozie though, if you don't want it.

[Sentinel947]

That may be folks at your local council. I took NRA Rifle Instructor training and didn't get anything close to that amount of advertising materials. It was straightforward apolitical training. 

[shortridge]

20 hours ago, RichardB said:

Would be interested in who this forum thinks could fill the role that NRA Instructors, TC's and RSO / CRSO's provide to the shooting sports?   

I would love to see the BSA be its own resource for this. We certainly have the internal expertise. Why not develop our own instructor training and certifications instead of relying on an outside organization that has become incredibly politicized, offensive and objectionable to many Americans? The NRA connection will turn off many parents and youth in the years to come.

[RememberSchiff]

32 minutes ago, shortridge said:

I would love to see the BSA be its own resource for this. We certainly have the internal expertise. Why not develop our own instructor training and certifications instead of relying on an outside organization that has become incredibly politicized, offensive and objectionable to many Americans? The NRA connection will turn off many parents and youth in the years to come.

No sense re-inventing the wheel, there are other excellent, non-NRA firearm instructor courses offered by the military, state police , Sig Sauer Academy, Gunsite, ...

Be aware, the NRA would likely switch their sizable monetary donations from Scouting to other programs.

My $0.02

 

Edited October 24, 2018 by RememberSchiff

[shortridge]

6 minutes ago, RememberSchiff said:

Be aware, the NRA would likely take their sizable monetary donations  to Scouting elsewhere

I’ve heard this before, so I looked it up. The NRA Foundation gave the BSA and councils $4 million from 2010 to 2016, according to the Associated Press’s examination of its public tax records. That’s about $666,000 a year. The BSA took in $228 million in the last year for which its tax reports are available (just National, not local councils). Speaking roughly, therefore, we can conclude that the NRA’s support makes up 0.29 percent of the BSA’s total annual revenues. (And when we include council revenues, that percentage will dive even further.)

What that means: The NRA’s famed largesse can be replaced entirely with a 20-cent increase in the BSA annual registration fee. At this point, the NRA needs the BSA more for legitimacy and political cover than we need it for financial and program support.

@RichardB, can you check with your colleagues and see if these numbers are accurate? Thanks!

[walk in the woods]

2 hours ago, shortridge said:

The NRA connection will turn off many parents and youth in the years to come.

Maybe where you live.  Where I live abandoning the NRA will have the same effect.  It would be just one more step in turning the BSA from a national program into a big blue bubble suburban day care program.

[mashmaster]

I think partnering with the NRA for shooting sports is  fine thing to do.  BSA partners with the leaders in each field US Archery, PADI, Red Cross,...   The partnership should begin and end with the domain that they are experts in.  I don't think there is a better replacement for firearm safety training currently.  IMHO, people need to not mix politics or religions with scouts.  Scouts should be a safe place for the youth.

[cyphertext]

2 hours ago, shortridge said:

I would love to see the BSA be its own resource for this. We certainly have the internal expertise. Why not develop our own instructor training and certifications instead of relying on an outside organization that has become incredibly politicized, offensive and objectionable to many Americans? The NRA connection will turn off many parents and youth in the years to come.

Do you realize that the same words you just used to describe the NRA have been used by some to describe the BSA as well?  In my area, the makeup of the BSA is very close to a mirror image of NRA membership.  Many of the boys who are in Scouts have parents that are NRA members.