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:
“... though it is by no means requisite that the American women should emulate the men in the pursuit of the whale, the felling of the forest, or the shooting of wild turkeys, they might, with advantage, be taught in early youth to excel in the race, to hit a mark, to swim, and in short to use every exercise which could impart vigor to their frames and independence to their minds.”
—Frances Wright (1795–1852)
“In the end, I think you really only get as far as you’re allowed to get.”
—Gayle Gardner, U.S. sports reporter. As quoted in Sports Illustrated, p. 87 (June 17, 1991)