Future of Parker Collection and Double Gun Collecting

[Gary Laudermilch]

It is up to each and every one of us to do what we can to keep the future bright - for the shooting sports and, closer to home, the PGCA.

Yep, start them on something as mundane as an 1100 and take what opportunities you get to plant the seeds that will be tomorrows harvest. Most of us will be long gone when that harvest is ripe but one thing for sure, without planting the seeds today there will be no harvest tomorrow.

[Bruce Day]

Local BSA camp today. A few advanced shot gunners shooting a Parker 20ga. We do this most spring weekends.

Most camps have a spring shooting program that this can be done in for those interested in teaching and working with youth.

[Carl Erickson Jr]

Very interesting thread!. My suggestions:
Get qualified as an instructor or coach and then work with local scouts or similar organizations to give youth an introduction to firearms. Sitting around and complaining about the lack of youth in our shooting sports does nothing. Does your club have a junior program?
Get your club to put a priority on junior shooting as opposed to member shooting. If only the members shoot then our shooting sports will disappear due to lack of new blood
Have youth (anyone under 40) join us at shoots. When the average age is 63 "youth" is 40 and under. The goal should be safe fun shooting. Encourage younger family members to attend sxs shoots. The best time that my son ever had shooting was at an after Christmas collector shoot. They do not need a $2000 gun. A well used safe Trojan or Field grade is more than adequate. Encourage them to bring their friends. One of the best time that I have had shooting was at a shoot with my son and some of his friends (aged 25-30). I had to loan shooters to the crew but we all had a blast. While I don't think that any of them will be buying a collector grade sxs soon I can easily see them with a lower grade classic gun.

[Kerilynn Viccione]

I'll give my 2 cents (which is probably an inflated value) to this interesting topic. Maybe a bit of a different perspective -

I am a teacher of elementary school and the mother of 2 teenage boys. I find that children are easily interested in things we show enthusiasm for on their level. I love history, and as such, I teach history to my students with the same love and appreciation that I feel. I have rarely had a student that doesn't embrace this sentiment.

Antique firearms, whether of little value or invaluable are not a separate category of our history. To hold an heirloom, relic, or artifact connects us to our past. To understand what our ancestors used them for gives us insight to ourselves. Survival, freedom, sport- this is our identity as a culture.

Children identify with the past when they can make personal connections. Unfortunately, all firearms have been grouped together in a negative light as of late.
I believe we should speak about these treasures with the reverence we hold for them in a context that commands respect- one that includes identifying who we are today tied to the history of our ancestors -how they lived, what they ate, what tools they used, how they protected their families...it all connects to these guns. Each is unique in its historical value, even if only for the story it tells.

Kerilynn

[Dean Romig]

Very well said Kerilynn. Thanks for putting into words what a lot of us feel and believe.

[Kensal Rise]

Ms. Viccione:
Your thoughts and insights are not puffery. They are pure wisdom! And exceedingly valuable.

Parker guns as well as other doubles are tangible, shootable and teachable connections to the past and its connection to our world today. They carry a story of America. And the world.

This is engaging to the young mind. And why I've advocated the low-to-no emphasis on scores and competition. The human value and historic relevance of the double gun is what should be transferred to the young.

But you know all that. And more. Thank you for your learned insights on this topic. Bravo!