Are NRA Instructors required for the BSA?

Should the NRA be involved? in BSA

Recently it’s been questioned by an opinion piece in USA Today, should the NRA be involved in the BSA?  It’s also been questioned by The Voice of Scouting if there is still a place for firearms in Scouting.  With the comments from the article showing just how divided even those in Scouting can be.  Which brings up the question should the NRA be involved with the BSA?  Should the BSA use NRA instructors to teach the shooting sports? Should the BSA even have Shooting Sports?

Before we can answer any of these questions, we really need to look at what the NRA and the NRA Instructors do for the BSA.  Without understanding the relationship you can’t begin to decide if the NRA should be involved in the BSA.

The BSA and the NRA partnership

Currently, all Rifle and Shotgun Merit Badge Counselors for the BSA are required to be NRA instructors.  Anyone who has ever been on a BSA range can tell you it’s extremely safe.  The RSO’s have a safety meeting before anyone shoots, always making sure to go over the 3 Rules that you must ALWAYS follow.  This is, of course, part of the course laid out by the NRA and what they teach all instructors, and RSO’s.

When earning the Rifle Merit Badge or Shotgun Merit you’ll notice that the classroom portions are almost identical to the NRA Basic Rifle and NRA Basic Shotgun courses.  There is a reason for this.  Not just because the lessons work, but because every BSA shooting sports instructor is also an NRA Instructor.   They are required to be by the BSA.  However, the NRA doesn’t write the curriculum for the merit badge classes.  In fact, the BSA has more requirements for the merit badges than what’s covered in the Basic NRA classes.

NRA Instructor Training

To become a BSA merit badge counselor you must first become an NRA Instructor for the merit badge you want to teach.  This means if you want to teach Rifle merit badge you must be an NRA Basic Rifle instructor, and the same goes with Shotgun.  Since the Rifle Merit Badge can be taught using black powder rifles if you want to do that you also have to be an NRA instructor for that.  Some Venture programs shoot pistols although it’s not allowed in the Boy Scouts, but guess what?  You need another NRA Instructor certification to teach pistols, even for the Venture program.

Now becoming an NRA instructor isn’t just as simple as taking one class.  You will have to take 3 classes.  The first you have to take the class you want to teach.  Such as NRA Basic Rifle.  Then you must take a BIT(Basic Instructors Training) course.  Last you take the actual instructors course for the class you want to teach.  It takes all of these courses to certify you to teach the NRA course.

BSA Training

Of course, the BSA still has to approve you to be a Merit Badge Counselor.  Just becoming an NRA instructor isn’t enough.  If you are already a BSA leader or Merit Badge counselor it’s only a matter of a little paperwork.  For those who just want to be a Merit Badge Counselor and not a leader.  You will have to pass a background check, and go through the BSA Youth Protection training.

Some BSA councils have their own trainers who can teach NRA instructors, some councils don’t.  For the councils who have instructors who can teach the NRA instructors, they offer all these classes at a reduced price.  For those who have to pay full price for these courses, you’ll spend $400-600 before you are a certified NRA instructor.   Not to mention at least 24-30 hours of your time.  For just one certification.  If you want to do both rifle and shotgun double that.

Do Merit Badge Counselors Need to NRA Instructors?

For a minute lets ignore the current BSA policy.  Do Rifle and Shotgun merit badge counselors really need to be NRA instructors?  Honestly, no they don’t.  There are plenty of knowledgeable firearm instructors that aren’t NRA certified.  There are even more people who shoot guns for a hobby that could teach these boys to shoot.  Remember every other merit badge counselor is only required to have some knowledge of the subject they want to be a counselor for.  With 1/4 to 1/3 of the US population being gun owners.  It shouldn’t be hard to find someone who is knowledgeable enough to teach the requirements already set forth in the merit badges.

The problem arises when you don’t have a  standard for the knowledge base requirements of these teachers.  The NRA instructors all have the same basic knowledge.  Of course, some know more than just basic knowledge, but the basics are all covered.  That’s what they are taught in those classes.  The questions should not do the merit badge counselors need to be NRA instructors.  The question should be, who else can train these counselors to teach about firearms?  Who makes sure that the counselors have the basic knowledge?  Is the BSA really qualified to oversee these kinds of things?

Merit Badge Counselor Training?

For every other merit badge, the BSA has to offer there is no training required to be a counselor, there is some online training available but not required.  In fact, I think I said that I could cook my food to become a Cooking merit badge counselor.  I’ll let that sink in for a minute………  Don’t forget the training that is available is not a merit badge specific.  Just generic for all merit badges.

The only training BSA merit badge counselors are required to take is Youth Protection training.   Which is a great training program designed to recognize, respond, and report any sort of abuse to the youth involved in Scouts.

With this kind of training for Merit badge counselors, the big question is if the NRA isn’t involved in the BSA, who is going to make sure that the Rifle and Shotgun counselors are truly being safe and teaching the merit badge properly?

Is There a Need for Shooting Sports in the BSA?

Many people would suggest that there is no need for the BSA to have any sort of shooting sports programs.  To which they may be correct in the same way that there is no need to have a water sports merit badge.  However, they would be grossly wrong in the assumption that there is no need to teach youth how to be safe with and respectful of firearms.

Without the BSA shooting sports programs many youths would never get a chance to touch a rifle or shotgun.  Little alone know what to do if they can across one.  They don’t teach firearms safety in schools.  Other than local instructors, there is no one teaching firearms safety in the US.

The NRA charges money for their classes, and local ranges rarely teach people under 18 without parents being present.  Because the BSA is made up of volunteers, they afford to teach these Scouts how to shoot and handle firearms safely, as part of the Scouting experience.

Without being educated on how to handle and respect a firearm the chances of one of these boys getting hurt with a firearm greatly go up.  Considering over 25% of the US owns at least one firearm there’s a good chance they will encounter a firearm in their life.  It’s important that these youth learn what to do, and how to be safe around firearms.

Conclusion

It should be pretty clear that not only is a good shooting sports program still a necessity in the BSA but having NRA instructors help with this program a necessity also.  Without a shooting sports program in the BSA, over a million boys will have a much harder time getting a chance to learn to shoot a firearm safely.  Although many anti-gun supporters would be happy about this.  It doesn’t help those who would enjoy the shooting sports.  On top of this missed opportunity to learn about firearms.  Without NRA instructors in the BSA, it would take lots of time and money for the BSA to develop and train enough instructors to keep the program going.  This would go against a scout being thrifty.

I may suggest those who would suggest that the NRA no longer be involved with the BSA are letting their political ideals, and firearm fears, ruin the great opportunities the NRA and BSA provides these Scouts.