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Youth Shooting Program

Ben Lomond Gun Club has an ongoing Youth Shooting Program. The program is open to children of club members and the public in the 8 to 16 year old age range.
All youth participants would need to take a 6 to 8 hour basic safety and range operations course prior to live fire sessions. This orientation class does not qualify as a Safe Hunter course and is required for all participants regardless of what other safety training they may have had. These courses are offered in different locations throughout the year. There is no charge for the Safety Orientation class but you do need to attend both sessions and pass a practical test. An option of NRA Basic Rifle Certification is offered but would require an extra 8 hour session and some fees to cover book costs.
Live fire sessions begin in March and go through October of each year. Live Fire sessions allow participants to do individual competition in the NRA Winchester 4 Position Rifle recognized youth shooting program. The intent is for this to be a progressive program to develop rifle, pistol and shotgun shooting skills – so participants would need to achieve a level of competency in rifle before moving on to the handgun and/or shotgun programs. As skills improve, we may sponsor internal or external club competitive shoots for those who are interested. Participation in the Rifle and Shotgun activities may be limited to youth shooters at least 12 years of age who have demonstrated proficiency and complete the NRA Basic Pistol or Basic Shotgun courses.
Air and .22 caliber rifles will be provided by the club for the live fire sessions, ammunition and targets will be provided at cost. You may bring your own rifles but the competitive program does not allow any optical or glass sights. Bolt action is preferred with a detachable magazine – please no tubular magazines. No instructors or participants in the program will receive any type of compensation. It is expected that a responsible adult will transport children to and from the live fire sessions and remain present during these events. Children under 10 must have a responsible adult directly supervising their live fire activities on the firing line with a ratio not to exceed one adult to every 2 children. This supervision will not be done by our range officers except for children 10 and older.
Parents are responsible for getting children to and from the Live Fire Sessions. Live Fire sessions are held on the 4th Saturday of each month. The rifle firing session for award competition will be held 0900 – 1300. You do not need to participate for the entire ession, but you will be responsible for cleaning any club equipment you use prior to leaving. A separate session will be held from 1300 – 1700 on these Saturdays. The topic of the special session will be announced in advance by email. Special topics may be silhouette shooting, black powder, archery, pistol, shotgun, high power, etc. Some age, proficiency and education restrictions may be imposed on the afternoon sessions.
If you would like additional information, please contact Franklyn Blaha by email at samantha2874@hotmail.com or phone 719-761-8002. If your chapter would like one of our instructors to come to one of your meetings to do a brief presentation on this program, let us know the date and time of your meetings. If you are interested in participating in this program as a family or instructor, please send an email indicating number and ages of children or your interest as an instructor and whether in rifle, pistol or shotgun. Likewise if you would like to do a one of the afternoon session in a special topic area of shooting, first aid, survival etc. – send contact information and topic of interest.