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File this under questions no one is asking:

When a teen activist from Sweden can inspire far-reaching school climate strikes — and a Nobel Peace Prize nomination — is it really too much to ask the International Olympic Committee as well to seek to make a difference, a really big difference, in our broken world?

That’s sportswriter Alan Abrahamson writing at something called 3 Wire Sports pleading with the IOC to drop all gun-related competition after the New Zealand shooting. We could point out once again that this kind of mindless anti-gun hysteria is exactly what the New Zealand shooter wanted, but we won’t waste your time or ours.

The question is whether, as a matter of promoting the best of humankind, shooting should be on the Olympic program.

It should not.

This inevitably leads to questions about modern pentathlon — which uses lasers, by the way, for its shooting portion.

And it ought to lead to hard questions as well about biathlon, in the Winter Games.

Bottom line: inclusion of guns on the program, Winter or Summer, normalizes and glamorizes the use of firearms.

Because heaven knows we can’t have the public seeing the responsible use of firearms outside the context of crime, and slaughter that’s regularly portrayed in the media.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, Abrahamson is fine with keeping fencing and archery. Because guns, he says, are “different.”

And yes, you might wonder why US competitors would want to be associated with any “athletic event” that considers the inclusion of breakdancing, but that’s not the point here.

In response, USA Shooting has issues this press release:

To say the least, these are challenging times in the shooting sports industry following another unthinkable tragedy, this time in Christchurch, New Zealand. Every one of these high-profile, senseless killings engulfs the world in a renewed and impassioned gun debate. The inevitable result: shaming, blame-shifting and social stigma.

Sportswriter Alan Abrahamson’s latest column in 3 Wire Sports titled “At the Olympics: No More Guns” does all of that for one of the oldest Olympic sports, while adding in a blatant slap in the face. It’s an alarmist’s reaction to a sport millions of people across the globe participate in.

His column calls for the removal of shooting as an Olympic sport. This response is in defense of USA Shooting’s Olympic and Paralympic athletes as well as our hopefuls and those safely participating in this sport on a daily basis. All of them are unwillingly stigmatized because the sports equipment they use is so negatively associated with tragedy.

First and foremost, USA Shooting wishes to express its deepest sorrow and sympathy for both the victims and those families affected by this latest tragedy. There is absolutely no place for this type of violence in this world. It’s unfortunate when someone’s criminal and cruel intents with firearms immediately creates a link to the shooting sports, to sportsmen, and to enthusiasts in general.

USA Shooting Team’s athletes, and those competing around the world in this sport, represent the shooting sports with class and distinction in every way and take great pride in showcasing the sport to a wider audience. This is their passion, and something they’ve been doing their entire lives. They also realize that as ambassadors for their sport, there’s a need to educate people and to create greater understanding in what they do as well as how and why they do it.

Calling for the elimination of the sport of shooting at the Olympics simply negates the universality inherent in the shooting sports today and all those participating in this sport who would be affected.  This is not an American-centric sport, with limited participation. Last year, 1,761 shooters from 105 nations competed during the 2018 ISSF World Cup Series.  At the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, 390 athletes from 97 countries qualified to participate. Nineteen countries earned shooting medals in Rio, besting sports like swimming, fencing, archery and taekwondo.

In times of tragedy, it’s important to remember these Olympic athletes have no relation to the devastating things people do with firearms.  They’ve chosen a livelihood in which a firearm is a desire and a necessity and absolutely value the freedom that provides them that opportunity. But, linking our athletes and our sport to every mindless tragedy which takes place is disrespectful, ignorant and in complete denial of the real problem facing today’s society. Lack of humanity is the real problem and having the sport of shooting eliminated from the Olympics is absolutely not going to fix that.

What USA Shooting does provide better than perhaps any other faction absorbed in this debate is the exemplary representation of the shooting sports. The debate of what good can come from teaching citizens, particularly our youth, about responsible gun ownership simply begins and ends with the class, distinction and principles USA Shooting athletes nationwide embody each and every day. Looking for the quintessential shooting sports enthusiast, look no farther than the members and participants of USA Shooting and their counterparts around the globe.

The representation of our sport is vast; a melting pot of cultures, character, intrigue and conviction. You’ll find all of that within the USA Shooting ranks as well.  We have competitive shooters that hunt, and others that don’t. Strong military representation and roots established by 4-H, Scouts, American Legion or family bonds. USA Shooting is youthful beginnings which transform to collegiate, international, and Olympic representation all the while creating a lifelong, tireless pursuit of perfection.

There are a lot of misperceptions currently out there regarding the gun culture, but for many it’s just a way of life. Guns are part of the fabric of everyday life for our shooting sport athletes, who compete in a sport which is safe, fun and inviting.  Most people who are competitive shooters, respect the sport, the game, and most importantly they respect the firearm they shoot as well as for the people around them.  We question anybody who can’t go out to a gun range and have fun. That’s the way our athletes see it and that’s the way our sport is built. For our athletes, for our club members, and for our parents, a gun is the piece of equipment needed for our sport, no different than what Serena’s tennis racket is for her to compete in tennis. And with that equipment, what comes from the use of it? Unbelievable discipline, fun and opportunity. It’s nothing more than the tool used in pursuit of a dream.

We steadfastly stand in defense of our sport, our athletes, and the worldwide shooting sports community. Sterilizing the Olympic movement from the dangers and evil that lurk in the world does absolutely nothing toward solving the problems which exist.  Instead, all that it means is that one of the founding Olympic sports and the Olympic dreams for many would be unfairly eliminated.

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80 COMMENTS

      • AnonyPerson,

        While I wouldn’t recommend going quite as far as Aaron Walker suggested, I agree that we need a great deal more passion in our arguments.

        Remember, our opponents operate purely on emotion, fantasy, and virtue (as they see it). Passionate arguments will garner their attention since we would be speaking their “language”.

  2. I think we should eliminate every event that wasn’t in the original Greek games. Of course, it will be a much shorter event. Not necessarily a bad thing. A lot fewer ads when I’m watching something I’m actually interested in. A great thing. And less opportunity for countries like N. Korea to put on ceremony they can ill afford.

  3. The original Olympics featured events that were useful in fighting battles/wars. I propose we eliminate all sports from the modern Olympics where that is not the underlying theme. Of course, all shooting sports would continue but rhythmic gymnastics and curling, just to mention a few, would take a hit! Probably need to add 3 Gun, IPSC, IDPA, and Sniper/long range events to the Olympics!

    • I would add, all sports mimic battle prep. Heck, even when we see cute puppies playing, they’re just practicing/learning to hunt. Even chess is strategy. The sports page is full of: they beat them, they slaughtered them, they crushed them……….

    • Don’t get rid of curling. There is something incredibly enjoyable about watching it and drinking a few beers. I have no idea why, but I enjoy it. It is only second best to women’s sand volleyball…. which is enjoyable for fully other reasons.

      • I don’t know, I might say they’re both enjoyable for the same reasons; lots of good-looking women on those curling teams.

  5. The idiot travel blogger, claiming to be a missionary, who illegally invaded an island in the Indian Ocean, was killed with spears and arrows. It makes more sense to eliminate Javelin and Archery from Olympic competition because of that senseless violence, than to eliminate target shooting because a leftist nut job murdered Muslims in NZ!

    • Oh please, we also have to eliminate all other martial arts, so we must include shot put, discus, wrestling, judo, fencing, pentathlon, decathlon, foot races, and anything else the Greeks did in the games designed to crown the greatest warriors of their day. We can have team crocheting instead.

      • Maybe we could replace the martial arts with the marital arts, back in the day I would enter and plan for GOLD!!.

        • My ex once told me, “If I had it to do over again, I wouldn’t marry you!” I replied, “If I had it to over again I wouldn’t marry anybody!”

  6. I really like the approach USA took there, presenting a calm, well-reasoned rebuttal to the sportswriter’s suggestion in a way that highlighted the positive aspects of the shooting sports. Never do they go down any path of “ban icky assault rifles, not our sporting guns!” like the Fudds do, despite Olympic guns being further removed from guns as weapons than hunting guns are.

    • Corodon,

      USA’s calm and well-reasoned rebuttal will not resonate with our political enemies who operate on emotion, fantasy, and virtue (as they see it). As I stated to a commenter above, we need a LOT more passion in our rebuttal in order to garner the attention (and perhaps support) of the people who want firearm bans because we are speaking their “language” when we inject a lot of passion. A calm and well-reasoned rebuttal is not their “language” and they will simply tune-out.

  7. “The representation of our sport is vast; a melting pot of cultures, character, intrigue and conviction.”

    And they utterly fail to mention how shooting is the only real Olympic sport that could survive desegregation of athletes by sexes (in equestrian the horse, not the rider, is the athlete). This is important because it WAS desegregated for several years, with multiple female winners.

    • You think the rider isn’t an athlete? Spoken like a non-rider. If you haven’t been on horseback in a while mount up for a few hours. If you’re not gimping the next day I’ll kiss your horse’s ass.

      • While the rider does need to be skilled, the horse’s ability seems like it’s far the more important of the two.

        • It’s a symbiotic relationship. Great horse, poor rider. Poor performance. Great rider, poor horse. Poor performance. Kind of like if you we’re thrown in a car at the Daytona 500. Car is finely tuned. Are you? Nanashi, your comments are usually well reasoned, but this one was a non-starter for you.

    • I try to avoid going to the range with my beloved wife. She puts 75-80 rounds in the “10” ring, totally decimating the “X.” The rest are in the “9” ring with a few in the “8.” She gets upset with 8s. Me? I do my bragging…..”Look honey, I actually hit the paper …..40 out of 100.” No problem. I am wicked proud of her. Yes. Shooting is definitely an equality sport.

    • An Olympic rider isn’t an athlete? Please explain why I was a failure at jumping even though I get around okay on my western horse. Better yet, why don’t you try riding a horse over a jump? I hope you won’t be offended if we take bets on which side of the jump you will hit the ground.

  8. Another sportswriter who never played a sport.

    These pencil-neck “experts” are what’s wrong with our world.

      • i am sure most of us here piss more real virtue out of us than he has ever had in his lifetime. he might have lots of fake virtue but that is the virtue of a coward and a traitor

  9. The left has now officially moved their position on guns from progressive to regressive. Don’t they realize the advancements that have been made in the name of Liberty, ie, modern firearms? Safety for one, and you can thank the NRA for that.

  10. Boxing is probably the most violent Olympic sport, besides maybe ice Hockey. But shooting paper targets or clay pigeons offends someone.

  11. Our world is not broken. A very small group of sick individuals are. Remember the old saying “if it ain’t broken , don’t try to fix it ” you can’t blame shooting sports enthusiasts ‘ law abiding citizens ‘ for the actions of a few sick individuals , with violent intent in their hearts & minds. You also cant fix these sick individuals , by hurting law abiding people. Put the same effort into the mental health system , as you do to victimize lawful gun enthusiasts . otherwise STFU and renew your prized commie card.

    • Generally true but inapplicable to the NZ shooter.

      He wasn’t sick, nuts, or deranged. Which is a huge part of the problem.

      • Uh …seriously? If you gun down a bunch women and children for no other reason than religion then yes ….you are sick, nuts, crazy , deranged … whatever… you need to be removed from the planet.

        • He means (well, I hope he means) the guy was acting rationally, but under a delusion. Killing those people would not accomplish anything he wanted to (it’s already fading from the news cycle, thankfully), and no rational person would think it would. Therefore he was operating under a delusion. Further evidence of this can be found in the numerous glaring contradictions & non-sequitur in his ‘manifesto,’ though I’m not convinced the document itself wasn’t a fiction he wrote to further increase his notoriety & intrigue.

          Now, if we accept that he was operating under the delusion that a sufficiently gripping terrorist attack could spark a civil war in the US that would ‘cleanse us of the mud races’ or whatever, by his subsequent actions of picking a big juicy target, and marketing/promoting his propaganda through both the written word and live video across multiple platforms, with arrangements to make them difficult to censor…we can see he was a pretty effective & logical planner, and not some raving disorganized lunatic. A true sociopath, in the mold of a ‘supervillain.’

        • His motivations really had nothing to do with religion. That was the bait.

          If you accept the idea that he truly believes the reasoning he gives in his writings, and there is no reason to doubt his sincerity in those writings, then his actions are entirely rational and he actually does a pretty good job of explaining and defending them. Personally I don’t accept his ideas on this because it would require something on the order of a billion people to march in lockstep and do so without anyone else much knowing what they’re up to. I don’t think a secret like that can be kept by such a vast number of people. There are other issues with the base arguments too but that’s a dozen pages of critique that I’m not going to bother writing.

          That said, IMHO, this is overall much like Catholic thinking for 1000 years. If you accept the premise that their version of God is correct then everything they say in their philosophical inquiries makes sense. Their arguments are close to, if not completely, air tight. If you don’t accept their version of God then it’s all an interesting academic argument predicated on an “if”.

          Now, that’s not to say that the shooter’s ideas are “interesting” any more than I would say that ISIS has “interesting ideas”. I would suggest that both the shooter and members of ISIS believe with great passion in what they say though.

          So, if we accept the base premise that he truly believes that some cultures are basically parasitical and out to destroy the Western world via a skillful combination of violence, politics and population growth within a fifth column then, starting from the assumption that such a premise is true then we cannot help but accept that his ideas are basically completely valid and that he’s correct insofar as his actions were essentially a legally and morally justifiable defense of others. Punch a Nazi for the kids type of thing.

          Now, OTOH, if we’re going to go with the premise that this guy was nuts then we’re going to have to totally rework Western Civ because it’s all based on the rantings of crazies. Everyone from Plato to De Tocqueville to the Founders to… well basically everyone alive in the Western world today is stark raving mad. I seriously doubt that’s the case. Possible I suppose, we could all be suffering a mass delusion but that probability is small.

          It’s a far easier and more likely to be correct explanation is to say that 1) This guy was not crazy. 2) Not everyone in the history of Western Civ was crazy. 3) That he’s misguided but a true believer. 4) He believes this to an extent that’s on par with someone like UBL and, based on his initial set of premises and assumptions, has a rational basis for his behavior.

          Otherwise, due to the arguments he’s made and the logic he’s used for them we basically have to admit that we’re all crazy. In that case he’s just an outlier who’s crazier than us and his actions serve the purpose of out our own insanity by taking our delusions to the extreme. At that point we then have to rework Western Civilization completely from the ground up. Which pretty much means everything we discuss on this website is bullshit and we should all give up every right we have and submit to the Fascist state that the shooter envisioned because everything we think we know is wrong and we find that fact in that dude’s extremism. His insanity proves our own and, in a round-about way, proves his point.

          I would also point out here that he advances, to an extreme degree, many of the arguments you see here on the comment boards for TTAG. He’s echoed to an even greater degree on virtually any political news site that attracts a fairly liberal or fairly conservative audience. That’s not an accident and it is, IMO, basically proof that he’s not nuts or deranged.

          So, no. I reject the notion that there’s something “wrong” with the guy in general. I think he’s made a grave error in his base premise and followed the logic that that error produced. Following that logic led him to do something violent, stupid and unacceptable but ultimately explainable within the framework of the logic he set up.

          • Lot of words to say, basically people these days are bat shit crazy! For whatever reasons.

      • He was, however, a human-shaped sack of shit who should have been strangled at birth. Or at any time prior to last week.

        • Or locked up and studied like Hannibal Lecter.

          As fucked up as the guy seems to be he shows a remarkable insight on a number of different topics.

          He didn’t build the bomb he tried to set off. That bomb has been being built by a lot of people for a lot of years. He merely tried to light the fuse.

      • Many confuse crazy with evil. This guy was pure evil mean. Was wondering where he got his money to travel to all of those countries he was supposed to have been.

        • He claims he got it from online cryptocurrency trading/investment, which is entirely possible.

  12. I have an idea, all you concerned citizens who want to fix our broken world. Let’s show how sincere you are by doing something really meaningful, like addressing the proliferation of uber violent video games, non enforcement of existing laws, abolishing the only real deterrant for murder, etc. etc. Leave the best of our young people alone!

    • By their ‘reasoning’ we should close all banks – that would eliminate bank robberies and thus bank robbers. Oh wait, they would just start robbing the mom and pop shop and robs, never mind. We certainly couldn’t close all of them as there are too many folks who shop for their malt liquor and. cigarettes at them.
      Perhaps we should look much harder at locking up criminals, and leave them locked up.
      IOW – it ain’t the ‘broken world’ that needs fixing, it is the broken people – but they can’t or won’t acknowledge that as that would require personal accountability and responsibility.

  13. Just get rid of Olympics all together….Its turned so commercial, and they keep adding stupid events like curling, badmitton, etc….If they do have it, keep it to original war/combat type of events, such as…archery, spear chucking, wrestling, running, and weightlifting…

  17. Then end all track events since they encourage running from police. And yes, that is how stupid they sound.

    • Absolutely….this kind of “reasoning” is not reasonable OR intelligent!! If shooting sports cause or glamorize killing, then one must also agree that MATCHES CAUSE ARSON……..OMG..what kind of people come up with this stuff???? I know of NO LAW-ABIDING citizens who own LEGAL sporting, hunting or range weapons that will give up their permits/licenses, guns or their shooting times on the range or their sporting events for ANY of the losers who advocate such a thing!!!

      • Calm down, their rantings are not based on reason or intelligent thought. These are the tactics that work best for them, victimhood, shame, phony grieving, supposed thoughtful sensible solutions. The end game is always the same, unarmed subjects.

  19. As mentioned the Olympics were founded as a quasi military “games”. Running,jumping,wrassling nekkid,throwing stuff. The Greeks quit killing each other every 4 years. If they’d had guns be assured they would have shot them. This boy is a maroon…

  20. “USA Shooting Responds to Sportswriter’s Call to Drop Shooting Sports From the Olympics”

    Well then, as this logic dictates, ban all muslims from entering the U.S, etc, etc, etc…Typical liberal kneejerk reaction…

  21. There are tons of athletes from around the world who would punch him in the face. I’m sure some Biathelteswould love to take him on lap in a real forest and let him find he way back. We should introduce him to the people who have gold medals in shooting who physically could do no other sport. And he should be introduced to Karoly Takacs who won Olympic rapid fire gold first with his right and then with his left after an injury made his right useless. You shooters know how tough that would be and if you are unfamiliar with Olympic rapid fire google it. It’s a tough sport.

  22. I never heard of this “sports writer”, which might indicate that I live a cloistered life. On the other hand, it might indicate nothing at all. That said, the guy is entitled to his opinion, which from where I sit has about as much value as the spring breezes in the trees, perhaps less.

    • Actually, keep the shooting sports and involve this ” writer” in the activity. As a target holder!

  23. Here I was going to propose bringing back a gun related event: Olympic Wax Bullet Dualing. I suppose that’s a no-go now, huh?

  24. They may be able to fill in the lost gum slot times with more Curling matches, I’d like that. Nothing gets my tail stiff like a man sweeping ice in front of curling balls

  25. The Olympics have become just like the Oscars, redundant and worthless once Leftist took control of it.

  26. If you are a failed “sports writer” the quickest way to bolster your failing career is skip writing about sports and start writing anti-gun propaganda with a sprinkling of “sports”. It seems to be the standard modi’s operandi all failed leftist “sports” wrtiters.

  27. From time to time, innocent people drown so we should eliminate swimming as well. We should can the winter Olympics entirely because hypothermia can kill.

  29. The Olympics can only exist as a propaganda tool for militarist regimes…that’s all they’ve ever been. Forget all the ancient Greek window dressing, in modern times the games have always been about European powers trying to best each other in yet another arena. IIRC it was the Nazis themselves that made it the grand spectacle we see today, as they sought to show the world how amazing their Reich could be. The rivalry between US/Europe and the USSR every 2-4 years during the Cold War is what grew the games into such a huge cultural fixture, and at its conclusion they should have faded away like the World’s Fair. The best Olympics in recent memory was China’s, and for the same exact reason as Nazi Germany. Trying to keep it going based solely on the commercial aspect is doomed to lame failure, and frankly, it’s really really dumb for us to be so complicit in the propaganda campaigns of hostile nations by indulging them this way.

  31. They already killed 300 meter rifle years back , that was interesting.
    Guess those nasty javelins need to go to…

  32. Pentathlon uses lasers? I thought 22Lr… … Lasers would take all the skill out of it. I wonder if the targets were changed to piano players facing away from the shooter.

  33. The guy covers the Olympics for NBC aaand he’s a journalism professor too.
    What were you expecting; Jeff Cooper?
    But the professor is all in on adding ‘breakdancing’ to the Olympics.

    In his own words:
    “For many people, the announcement Thursday that Paris 2024 seems set to to include breakdancing as an Olympic sport was met with — say what?
    No, for real.
    Let’s get real.
    If you are complaining that “breaking,” as it’s called in Olympic jargon, doesn’t belong on the Summer Games program but you swoon every Winter Games when the ice dancers do their luscious thing — come on.
    Beyond that, and finally — the French finally did something right.
    Let’s give credit where it’s due: the French got this totally right. ”
    https://www.3wiresports.com/articles/2019/2/21/breaking-not-bad-all-good-for-2024

  34. Well ,Ladies and Gentlemen, have we been asleep or looking the other way? The shooting sports have been under attack for many years by all manner of left loonies and members of the left who are not loonies just very determined to implement there idea of utopia . Shooting at the Olympics has almost been eliminated already, and there was little or perhaps ineffectual protest as disciplines were removed. As a group we Shooters are far to polite.

  35. I know it’s hypothetical, but if we were starting the Olympics from scratch, there is no way that shooting would be included.

    But it is here, and will remain so until the day when it seems too anachronistic to sit comfortably alongside other Olympic pursuits; until the day that the essential nature of shooting a gun, which is to kill, seems too distasteful to be welcomed under the Olympic flag.

    That day will come and although I’d like it to be sooner rather than later, I’ll wait patiently for the inevitable.

  36. Got a better idea…..since all the “woke” a-holes have destroyed the whole show, just cancel the whole thing!!

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