The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-03-05
FosTERED BY GOVERNMENT

FOSTERED BY GOVERNMENT The government is doing all it can to
 foster rife shooting throughout the coun- try. It requires regular summer course of rifle practice of all National Guard orga nizations that are armed with the rifle. Especially does this apply to the infantry, for the rifle is the dough hoy's" own particular weapon and the shooting of it his duty and his privilege. l The artillery has it's three-inch field guns, the cavalry its sabre, but the infantry man glories in his Springfield, and gets
 much joy from handling it.
 In the local companies the boys are already getting framed up'' for the sum mer season. There will be weekly and perhaps semi-weekly matches on the Boyles range from April to Novemb CT, and when the regiments go into camp l large portion of the time will be spent 1 in target practice The war department provides special ratings for those who become proficient at the game and give 1 a medal to the fortunate soldier who earns it. The several grades are, "Marksman'' "Sharpshooter" and ''Ex l pert Rifeman." These honors are be- slowed only after the soldier has made q certain score over a prescribed course, the possible perfect score of which is 25o. In order to qualify as a marksnan
 the soldier must make 160; as sharp
 shooter 190 and as an expert rif1eman 210 points out of 250.
 At the end of the summer. usually in October, the pig national matches are held when famous rihemen from all parts of the country gather for several weeks shooting. Each branch of the regular service and each state sends a team to compete and some civilian rifle clubs also send representatives. This years ma tches, as was the case last year, will
 be held in Jacksonville, Fla, which boasts
 70 klz@ a.ooe fv, t14 v1,1I
 The officers of the local infantry com
 panies are determined that Birmingham Shall be represented this year as never
 before. So they are already beginning
 with the preliminary work.
 Before going out on the range the
 militiaman must first learn the rudiments
 of the game He must learn how to
 hold his rife and how to sight it. This
 seemingly simple matter is stumbling
 block which has ripped many self
 sufficient beginning All men think that
 sighting a rifle is the easiest thing about
 it, but not one in 10 knows how. Also,
 everyone thinks he knows how to pull
 the trigger until he finds out that while
 pulling the trigger he Is also pulling off the target So he must master the art
 of 'squeezing'' instead of pulling. This
 trigger squeeze is one of the most diff
 fcult and yet the most essential parts
 of rife shooting. Until the beginner has learned these few fundamental principles
 of the game he has no business vast
 ing Uncle Sam'S ammunition on the
 range.
 IGNORANCE ABOUT RIFLES
 We are fond of boasting that we are a
 nation of rifiemen. We have told our selves this old fable so long that some
 of us have come to believe it. We point to the exploits of our forefathers and dilate upon how we have inherited
 their fighting qualities and their skill
 with arms. Never was claim more senseless or more michievouss Instead of being q nation of rif1emen we are the one nation on earth, with the exception of China, that knows practically nothing about rifle shooting. We have gathered together in cities to such an extent that our old time prowess with gunpowder has long since passed away. How many men do you know who have ever fired an army rife? How many of them could qualify as marksman? How many boys do you know who have been allowed away from their mothers apron strings long enough to learn the art of rifle shooting? If counted up. the number would be alarmingly small.
 It is to overcome as much as possible this dangerous lack of proper gun knowl- edge that the National Guard officers are making every effort to get men in- terested in the game. They feel that not only will they be doing a work that may some day be of value to the country, but they will be starting their pupils in one of the finest and most manly of sports. There is no lack of gun play in the country. The trouble is there is too little real knowledge. One has but to ride through the residence districts of Birmingham to see how many boys are allowed to handle guns who have had no proper instruction in their use. Air guns and .22-rifies are handled promis- cuously by boys of all ages. and the wonder Is that accidents are not more frequent. Surely the boy and the pub- lie are better off for a little proper train ing No boy, or man either, should be allowed to handle gun who could not show certificate of proper training in it's use.
 Speaking of military rifles. We believe that the United States has the best in | the world But it was not aways so. | At the outbreak of the Spanish Amer l ican war our infantry rifle was years l behind the times. For some reason our I government slept while those of other 1 countries were working. with the result | that the nation that developed rifle ! shooting and made t both sn art and