Shooting Sports
Shooting sports are split into different categories in the UK between target shooting, clay pigeon shooting, pest control, and hunting. Sports once a relatively elitist activity have become far more popular in modern times amongst people from all walks of life.
Many modern civilian rifle clubs trace their history to the 'volunteers' of the middle 19th century, raised locally among the gentry to afford some readiness to counter the constant threat of invasion by Napoleon III. These volunteer organisations and military shooting clubs developed over time into civilian clubs as the Volunteer organisations were incorporated into the Territorial Army. The rise in popularity in the civilian clubs started in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, especially full-bore rifle events sponsored by the military and National Rifle Association of the United Kingdom to improve the general standard of marksmanship under the auspices of Defence of the Realm.
Read more about this topic: Gun Politics In The United Kingdom
Famous quotes containing the words shooting and/or sports:
“One ... aspect of the case for World War II is that while it was still a shooting affair it taught us survivors a great deal about daily living which is valuable to us now that it is, ethically at least, a question of cold weapons and hot words.”
—M.F.K. Fisher (1908–1992)
“Sweet smiling village, loveliest of the lawn,
Thy sports are fled and all thy charms withdrawn;
Amidst thy bowers the tyrant’s hand is seen,
And desolation saddens all thy green;
One only master grasps the whole domain,
And half a tillage stints thy smiling plain;”
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730?–1774)