Hello, Big Brother: No more camp ammo
The Des Moines Register
Section: Main News
June 30, 1999
Byline: Thompson Bill; Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Just when it seems that the hysterical reaction to the school
shootings in Littleton, Colo., has reached an unsurpassable level of
lunacy, someone devises a reaction that is even more preposterous than
any that preceded it.
Congress has proposed superfluous gun laws, threatened to
prosecute producers of violent movies, even demanded that schools
post the Ten Commandments to stave off outbreaks of violence.
Politicians, of course, live and breathe for the opportunity to
overreact to a crisis. We have come to expect such idiocy from the
government, and we have learned not to overreact to the politicians'
overreactions.
But now comes word that the private sector has joined the hysteria.
According to the Baltimore Sun, private summer camps for kids are
shutting down their riflery programs in response to the nationwide
furor over guns.
Baltimore Sun writer Ellen Gamerman reported that a Colorado camp
operated by the YMCA is dumping its 92-year-old shooting program for
campers -and that similar programs are biting the dust at camps in other
states, including Maryland and New Hampshire.
"As much a rite of summer camp as toasted marshmallows and
popsicle-stick birdhouses," Gamerman wrote, "riflery is now under
scrutiny for seeming to promote the use of guns and to demystify
their power among children."
The story goes on to say that most camps with riflery programs
have no plans to get rid of them, "deeming riflery not only a
challenging target sport but also an effective way to teach gun safety.
"But . . . a handful of conscience-stricken camp supervisors are
putting the guns away."
It gets better -or worse, depending on your point of view.
"For the first time this year," the Sun reported, "Camp Chewonki
in Wiscasset, Maine, is banning any campfire songs that mention guns."
No kidding. "Campfire songs."
Personally, I don't know any campfire songs -much less any
campfire songs that mention guns. But I'm trying to imagine what
sort of campfire song might inspire some kid to leap to his feet,
grab a rifle and start mowing down his fellow campers.
Let's hope that Rosie O'Donnell can stop berating Tom Selleck and
Charlton Heston long to enough to learn about Camp Chewonki's heroic
effort to protect America's children from the burgeoning menace of
gun-oriented campfire songs. She might want to plug -uh, tout -the camp
on her TV talk show.
One of the YMCA honchos who calls the shots -I mean non-shots -at
newly rifleless Camp Chief Ouray in Colorado was quoted by Gamerman:
"The thought that ran through my mind was, `What if we had an
accident with a rifle, or what if some kid did turn around and shoot a
rifle at another child -how could I justify that we had this riflery
program going on?' "
OK, and what if some kid throws another kid in the swimming pool
and the kid drowns?
Or what if some kid catches pneumonia and dies after sleeping in
the woods?
Or what if some kid wanders off by himself and gets crushed by a
malevolent bear or some other dangerous creature?
Why, you could make a case for getting rid of summer camps
altogether. There's no telling what sort of terrible fate could
befall a youngster at camp.
Seriously, folks. How far will this anti-gun hysteria have to go
before reasonable people scream, "Wait once!"
Or something.
I've said this before, but I'll say it again so that there is no
confusion. I'm not a gun aficionado, or even a gun owner. I have no
affiliation with the National Rifle Association.
But this mindless anti-gun frenzy that seems to be overrunning
America worries me.
It worries me not only because it threatens the constitutional
right to bear arms but because it distracts society from the real
issue in the recent epidemic of school violence: the horrifying rage of
the young people who are perpetrating the violence.
I'm guessing that the rage isn't caused by summer-camp target
shooting. I'm positive that it isn't caused by campfire songs that
mention guns.
-------
BILL THOMPSON writes for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
The Des Moines Register
Section: Main News
June 30, 1999
Byline: Thompson Bill; Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Just when it seems that the hysterical reaction to the school
shootings in Littleton, Colo., has reached an unsurpassable level of
lunacy, someone devises a reaction that is even more preposterous than
any that preceded it.
Congress has proposed superfluous gun laws, threatened to
prosecute producers of violent movies, even demanded that schools
post the Ten Commandments to stave off outbreaks of violence.
Politicians, of course, live and breathe for the opportunity to
overreact to a crisis. We have come to expect such idiocy from the
government, and we have learned not to overreact to the politicians'
overreactions.
But now comes word that the private sector has joined the hysteria.
According to the Baltimore Sun, private summer camps for kids are
shutting down their riflery programs in response to the nationwide
furor over guns.
Baltimore Sun writer Ellen Gamerman reported that a Colorado camp
operated by the YMCA is dumping its 92-year-old shooting program for
campers -and that similar programs are biting the dust at camps in other
states, including Maryland and New Hampshire.
"As much a rite of summer camp as toasted marshmallows and
popsicle-stick birdhouses," Gamerman wrote, "riflery is now under
scrutiny for seeming to promote the use of guns and to demystify
their power among children."
The story goes on to say that most camps with riflery programs
have no plans to get rid of them, "deeming riflery not only a
challenging target sport but also an effective way to teach gun safety.
"But . . . a handful of conscience-stricken camp supervisors are
putting the guns away."
It gets better -or worse, depending on your point of view.
"For the first time this year," the Sun reported, "Camp Chewonki
in Wiscasset, Maine, is banning any campfire songs that mention guns."
No kidding. "Campfire songs."
Personally, I don't know any campfire songs -much less any
campfire songs that mention guns. But I'm trying to imagine what
sort of campfire song might inspire some kid to leap to his feet,
grab a rifle and start mowing down his fellow campers.
Let's hope that Rosie O'Donnell can stop berating Tom Selleck and
Charlton Heston long to enough to learn about Camp Chewonki's heroic
effort to protect America's children from the burgeoning menace of
gun-oriented campfire songs. She might want to plug -uh, tout -the camp
on her TV talk show.
One of the YMCA honchos who calls the shots -I mean non-shots -at
newly rifleless Camp Chief Ouray in Colorado was quoted by Gamerman:
"The thought that ran through my mind was, `What if we had an
accident with a rifle, or what if some kid did turn around and shoot a
rifle at another child -how could I justify that we had this riflery
program going on?' "
OK, and what if some kid throws another kid in the swimming pool
and the kid drowns?
Or what if some kid catches pneumonia and dies after sleeping in
the woods?
Or what if some kid wanders off by himself and gets crushed by a
malevolent bear or some other dangerous creature?
Why, you could make a case for getting rid of summer camps
altogether. There's no telling what sort of terrible fate could
befall a youngster at camp.
Seriously, folks. How far will this anti-gun hysteria have to go
before reasonable people scream, "Wait once!"
Or something.
I've said this before, but I'll say it again so that there is no
confusion. I'm not a gun aficionado, or even a gun owner. I have no
affiliation with the National Rifle Association.
But this mindless anti-gun frenzy that seems to be overrunning
America worries me.
It worries me not only because it threatens the constitutional
right to bear arms but because it distracts society from the real
issue in the recent epidemic of school violence: the horrifying rage of
the young people who are perpetrating the violence.
I'm guessing that the rage isn't caused by summer-camp target
shooting. I'm positive that it isn't caused by campfire songs that
mention guns.
-------
BILL THOMPSON writes for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
