22 April 2009
Girl Scouts Shooting Program
Posted by admin under: program .
One of my frustrations with Girl Scouts is that I’ve been told for seven years that Girl Scouts aren’t allowed to shoot guns. It was small solace that we’re allowed to do laser tag which the Boy Scouts aren’t allowed to do. This seemed to be validated by the fact that there is no gun, rifle, NRA or any other kind of index entry regarding firearms in the Girl Scouts of the USA rulebook: Safety-Wise. However, I’ve recently been reviewing Safety-Wise for other things and came across the following entry:
Activities in the following list may not be attempted by a Girl Scout group without written authorization by their Girl Scout council. Girl Scout councils may not authorize any of these activities for girls under 12 years old and without ensuring that they are properly planned, supervised, and insured. (this is followed by) Activities that involve the use of firearms
This means that Girl Scouts are allowed to shoot guns. The restriction is on the age range and council authorization. Since I’d never heard of any summer camp program that had .22’s or even BB’s I figured we never had a chance. That’s not the same as it being against the regulations, though.
That’s why there is this cool story from Illinois’ New Lenox Patriot (Thanks Laura Michaels)
On the list of things they wanted to do before graduating from Girl Scouting in May was “learn to shoot a gun,” and that’s exactly what the members of New Lenox Girl Scout Troop 91 did when they visited the Oak Park Sportsmen’s Club in Plainfield.
Troop leaders Jeanne Meeks and Laurie Blackwood contacted Jan Rafac, the secretary of the Allied Illinois Markswomen and a certified NRA instructor. Because Troop 91 was the first Girl Scout group to ever contact AIM, Rafac gathered five certified instructors to create an introductory program.
…
AIM President Laura Andersen, who is also a certified NRA instructor and Boy Scout certified firearms instructor, said women are often better shots than men because of their better fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
Though the Boy Scouts have a marksmanship program, Girl Scouts have no such program. The goal of the AIM organization is to educate women and girls to safely use firearms for sport and recreation, and Rafac said the group has tried to make contact with Girl Scout groups over the years so she was excited the girls of Troop 91 wanted to learn.
Yeah! Let’s hear it for the Allied Illinois Markswomen and their willingness to work with the GSUSA to bring this exciting event to Troop 91!
- BSA: Shooting Day
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- Fischer Fires for Boy Scouts
- Different Policies, Same Cost
4 Comments so far...
Dan - Scouting News Says:
26 April 2009 at 2:40 am.
Thats great! When we had Girl Scouts at our Boy Scout Camp they always wanted to shoot the 22s but based on their camping policies they could only do archery.
Tried to have Venturing Applications right at the range that I could sign (I’m a Crew Advisor), but was told I couldn’t 
Carl Says:
12 May 2009 at 4:46 pm.
Try contacting 4H. Our shooting program is open to all but requires 8 hours of safety. Be sure to contact a shooting sports leader. We go through a lot of special training the other leaders don’t have. And yes the girls are often better shooters.
YVONNIE MOTT Says:
12 May 2010 at 11:34 pm.
Could you please send requirements for a Cadete Girl Scout shooting badge.
Stacy Says:
18 May 2010 at 7:50 am.
While in theory a Girl Scout *could* shoot with council authorization, there are very few councils that will actually approve it. Most of them have the “guns are icky” attitude. Congrats that someone found one to approve it, but that is very rare from what I understand.
