Firearms-related activities, such as hunting and sports shooting, are becoming increasingly popular amongst America’s youth.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation keeps a sales index for hunting licenses, in 2020 sales went up 29% and most of those buying a license for the first time were in their teens.
According to Pew Trusts; Michigan saw 67% more new hunting license buyers in 2020, Maine saw that women and young adults were the fastest-growing group of new hunters, New York saw such a renewed interest in hunting that they lowered the deer hunting age from 14 to 12, Minnesota had a 59% increase in youth hunting license sales, and Nevada saw 50% more students in hunting classes.
Young people are getting involved with more than just hunting though, sport shooting is seeing a massive spike in interest from America’s youth.
From Guns.com:
Following up on a record Fall Season, the USA Clay Target League told us last week that they will have a record 27,577 student-athletes representing 1,308 high school and college teams in 34 states participating in the league’s programs this spring, supported by 7,800 volunteers serving as coaches, range officers, and staff.
“After a tremendously difficult 2020 for schools and student-athletes, we are pleased to surpass our pre-COVID spring participation numbers,” said John Nelson, president of the USACTL, “The record-setting participation this spring is the result of the incredible efforts of coaches and families to overcome ongoing issues with the pandemic and ammunition shortages.”
Fully Title IX compliant with both male and female athletes competing on the same team, the USACTL also is adaptive, easily allowing students with physical disabilities to participate.
“Athletes of all types are able to participate in clay target shooting,” said Nelson. “The League has a ‘no benchwarmers’ philosophy, and the True Team scoring system is designed so that everyone’s score matters, not just the top athletes on a team.”
