Its supporters say competitive shooting helps develop students’ discipline and sportsmanship. But the sport is under increased scrutiny in the gun debate era

“Find the center yet?” asked Paul Menjik, the 82-year-old coach of upstate New York’s Central Square air rifle team.

“Looking for it,” answered Maryann Sobel, shouldering her rifle. She steadied herself into firing position – body perpendicular to the target, legs locked into a triangle shape, breath steady and calm – and aimed at the bullseye 10 meters away, a minuscule dot half a millimeter in diameter. For a perfect shot, the high-school freshman needed to not just find the needle in the haystack; she needed to shoot through the needle’s eye.

Sobel, Menjik and the rest of the Central Square team had driven over 200 miles through the howling winds of a nor’easter to participate in the New York Public High School Athletic Association Air Rifle Championship. Held on the campus of the US Military Academy at West Point this past Saturday, 71 shooters from across the state had gathered in a quest to be crowned New York’s best.

Outside, whitecaps churned across the Hudson River and snow drifts swirled in small cyclones, but inside West Point’s air-rifle range the vibe was warm and familial. Parents opened coolers filled with sandwiches and soft drinks, coaches met to discuss safety and strategy, and students conquered their jitters with cell phone games. If not for the quiet, repetitive pop of the rifles, it could have been any other youth sporting event.

But unlike a basketball game or a tennis match, high school students were handling, loading and firing guns. “Discipline is more important than the shooting,” parent volunteer Joan Marsden told me, explaining the sport’s rigorous safety regulations. “You have to respect the rifle for what it will do.”

The reality of what a gun can do was made all too clear in Parkland, Florida, a few weeks ago when Nikolas Cruz murdered 17 teachers and students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. In the shooting’s aftermath, the national debate over gun control and the role of the NRA in American politics has been reignited.

Beyond calls for expanded background checks and an assault weapons ban, the Parkland shooting also generated discussion about school-supported marksmanship programs. Cruz had been a member of his school’s JROTC unit and competed on the varsity air-rifle team that received a $10,827 grant from the NRA Foundation. Known for his marksmanship, Cruz’s team-mates nicknamed him “Wolf.”

The NRA Foundation’s support of programs like the one where Cruz learned how to shoot have been criticized as way for the gun industry to sell weapons to kids. “The NRA is very open about the fact that they are targeting children,” said Josh Sugarmann, the executive director of the Violence Policy Center. “Today’s NRA is essentially a gun industry trade association masquerading as a shooting sports foundation, and they work hand in glove with the firearms industry targeting youth.”

But at West Point on Saturday, parents, teachers and students stressed that air rifle target shooting had no correlation to the NRA or to the awful events in Parkland. Everyone that I spoke with on Saturday was quick to promote the sport’s safety and gender equality as well as the focus and discipline that it takes to become an effective target shooter. Above all, they wanted to make clear that their sport isn’t a breeding ground for violent behavior.

“There are a lot of misconceptions,” Leif Johnson, the coach of the Lancaster High School team, told me. “It’s understandable. Guns are scary, but the kids know that.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Students take aim at West Point: ‘Discipline is more important than the shooting’. Photograph: Andrew Helms

There are over 2,000 high-school rifle programs across the US. Some, like the ones I watched compete at West Point, operate as varsity-level teams. Others function as school-sanctioned clubs or as part of a JROTC unit. For students who can’t compete through their schools, there are various tournaments and competitions to give budding marksmen and women a chance to shoot competitively, many organized by the NRA.

For much of the 20th century, this type of school-based gun education was routine. Supported by organizations like the Civilian Marksmanship Program – a group formed after the Spanish-American War when Teddy Roosevelt felt the country’s marksmanship was flagging – high school teams competing with .22 caliber rifles were common. As one parent, Becky Oeschger of Grieg, New York, remembered, she learned how to handle guns in her rural school, and many students would display their guns across the rear windows of their pick-up trucks in the school’s parking lot. “When kids grow up like this, it doesn’t have the negative violence associated with it and they can do it safely,” she said.

Recently, air rifles have gained popularity as a cheaper – and safer – alternative to .22s but they are still costly. A top of the line air rifle can cost up to $3,500. And then there are the target systems and pellets, shooting jackets and pants, boots, gloves, ear plugs, rifle stands, and more. Though some schools were fully kitted out on Saturday, it was clear that others were less well-funded. Several parents said they held fundraisers to cover what school budgets couldn’t. “The football team gets jerseys,” said parent volunteer Marsden. “Why not us, too?”

It’s why some schools seek assistance from outside groups, including the NRA Foundation. Since 1990, the organization claims to have donated $335m to support target shooting around the country. As the Associated Press reported, in 2016 alone the NRA Foundation donated over $2.2m to schools, including that $10,827 donation to the JROTC program at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

According to Sugarmann of the Violence Policy Center, the NRA Foundation’s support of high school shooting programs is just one component of the NRA’s broader campaign to get young people interested in guns. With the percentage of the American population that owns guns declining and many gun buyers getting older, the NRA and the gun industry support for these programs as a tool to get children interested in firearms. “The traditional gun buyers – the white males – they are dying off,” Sugarmann explained. “These are the children and teens that the NRA has placed their hopes and dreams on.”

Beyond supporting competitive shooting teams, the gun industry and the NRA explicitly market their products to children. Gun industry advertisements promote “Glocks for Girls” and multi-colored weapons designed to appeal to children. “If any other adult product were being marketed to children whether it be alcohol or tobacco, people would be shocked. But somehow because it’s guns it’s presented as being different,” argued Sugarmann.

These are the children and teens that the NRA has placed their hopes and dreams on Josh Sugarmann, executive director of the Violence Policy Center

Of the coaches and parents I spoke with on Saturday, only one team, Central Square, said it had received any funding from the NRA Foundation, a grant of around $2,000. When asked about the role of the NRA, most argued that too much attention is paid to the organization. “We never discuss the NRA or issues outside of target shooting,” said the sport’s state coordinator, George Hathaway.

Parents, teachers and students also stressed that air rifle target shooting had no correlation to the NRA or to the awful events in Parkland. “[Cruz] just happened to have learned marksmanship at a formal program, which is not good, because it puts a hex on ROTC programs and ours too,” said Menjik, Central Square’s coach. “We’re teaching them to shoot, but primarily all the other things that go with it. Sportsmanship, just to say one. Competitive demeanor for another.”

When I asked parents and coaches about the NRA’s influence on mass shootings, most argued that American culture was the bigger problem. “I would look more at Hollywood and video games before you pin everything on the NRA,” said Leif Johnson, the coach of the Lancaster High School team.

Advocates of stronger gun control measures disagree. They contend that citizens of every country watch movies that glorify guns but only the United States has persistent mass shootings. The problem isn’t Hollywood; it’s how easy it is for Americans to access firearms, a reality that many blame on the NRA, which did not respond to a request for comment on this article.

For Sugarmann, it’s imperative that all who participate in competitive shooting fully understand the NRA’s role in gun politics. “I think to be honest that a lot of them – or at least a significant portion of them – don’t really understand the exact role that the NRA plays in the gun debate or understand the motivation behind their political agenda,” he said. “And they certainly don’t understand the cynicism that drives their outreach toward youth.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Reminders for students as the competition gets underway. Photograph: Andrew Helms/The Guardian

While most shooters at West Point on Saturday were competing against other schools, Kamille Zakrveski, a freshman from Central Square, had another challenger in mind: her sister. Her older sister Jillian holds three state records in three-position air rifle and now shoots for the University of Mississippi. Naturally, her younger sister wanted to claim those records for herself.

But on Saturday, the elder Zakrveski’s records stood though Kamille did finish third overall in standing air rifle. She’s hoping to try again next year and plans to keep training during the off season in a range that her grandparents built in their basement.

That is, if her school’s rifle program still exists. Without even asking about Parkland, Zakrevski expressed fear for the future of her sport in the shooting’s aftermath. “What scares us most is if this could get taken away,” she said. “It’s everything to us.”

What scares us most is if this could get taken away Kamille Zakrveski, freshman air rifle shooter

That sentiment was expressed over and over again on Saturday. In the wake of the tragedy, the small air rifle community felt their sport was unfairly maligned and lumped in with any who would misuse a firearm. Johnson, the coach of Lancaster, told me that on the drive down to West Point, he hesitated to tell a waitress that he was with an air rifle team, uncertain what her politics were. A mother told me that she didn’t post that her son was competing on social media, fearing negative comments. Some parents admitted that they were nervous to talk to me, unsure how their words would be interpreted.

Instead, the parents and coaches were eager to discuss the sport’s safety. With strict rules around the handling of weapons and ammunition, the Civilian Marksmanship Program claims that air rifle has one of the lowest injury rates of all youth sports. “It’s even safer than the chess club,” joked Menjik who could not recall an injury in all his years of coaching.

And its supporters also highlight that it’s the only true co-ed sport in the state with boys and girls competing for the same title without any modifications. Moreover, female shooters like the Zakrveski sisters regularly outperform their male counterparts. “The girls don’t have the macho image,” explained Menjik, arguing that girls show more discipline than boys.

Even as the national conversation about guns and the role of the NRA rages on, supporters of high school air rifle hope their sport will be allowed to continue its growth. “We would love this sport to go from a smaller regional championship to a state championship,” said Hathaway. “Some people may not be able to separate the sport from the politics, but I do.”